A Mother and Her Kit
by Hyper Guyver
Summary: AU: The Fourth Hokage has met an incredible woman with Nine Tails and Ruby red eyes? What will Naruto do when this woman appears 12 years later? Naruto will finally meet the mother he's never known. Please review.
1. Foxy Lady

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Got it!

This story is inspired by a series of 'Bitch Kyuubi' deviation artworks done by an Artist named 'Croaky.' I really liked the artwork and it inspired me to write this fic. I'd encourage you to check it out: http/croaky. 

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE 

It hit him square in the face, quite literally. The full gust of autumn wind hit the young man just as he sat up from the grassy field, the wind gently rustling his golden hair.

As he closed his eyes, the young man took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. The air smelled of pine and tree bark, which was no surprise as the young man's chosen spot bordered along the grassy field's of Konoha's eastern edge and the thick forest that lay beyond.

It was truly moments like this that the blonde haired man knew it was worth all the effort it took to sneak out of the village of the Hidden Leaf. Cracking his neck from right to left, the he chose that moment to stand up and stretch.

Yes, the Fourth Hokage, Arashi Uzumaki really did need these brief moments of clarity. In other words, a chance to get away from all the crap back at the office for an hour or so.

Looking back on it, it probably wasn't the most professional thing to be doing as Hokage, to be sneak out without telling anyone. But he needed his personal time! No 'Hokage this!' or 'Hokage-sama that.' For a village full of trained warriors, the people of Konoha weren't very self-sufficient.

No wonder Sarutobi had been so eager to slap that Damn Kage hat on his head.

Frowning slightly, Arashi decided it was probably time to head back. Who knows what could have happened while he was gone. Ha! Maybe somebody had slaughtered the entire Uchiha clan or something.

'Pffh! Yeah,' Arashi thought. 'Like that could ever happen.'

But just as the young Hokage was about to head back. A rustling in the nearby bushes caught his attention.

Looking at the bush, the Yondaime watched curiously as a sizable red fox emerged. A red fox with… nine tails?

Arashi had to admit; the fox was quite a sight. Much larger than most foxes of it's size and with a beautiful shimmering red coat of fur. The Nine bushy tails of the fox swayed back and forth like waves of red fur. The creatures narrow black eyes looked at the young man curiously.

"Well, hello there." The young Uzumaki greeted as he crouched down towards the fox. Completely forgetting his earlier plan to head back to the village.

The fox tilted its head to the side in curiosity. Slowly stepping closer, slightly cautious of the blonde haired man.

"It's okay" Arashi soothed. "I won't hurt you…" Arashi extended his hand towards the animal. The Fox cautiously crept even closer, sniffing the young man's hand.

"Aren't you just a beautiful thing." Arashi smiled as he gently began to pet the Fox's head. He had to admit, as he brushed his hand against the beautiful auburn red fur, it felt like silk in his hands.

Feeling more comfortable, the Fox moved in closer, enjoying the attention.

As the creature moved closer, Arashi could suddenly feel it. As if he'd been half a sleep and unable to notice it at before, he suddenly found himself noticing an immense level of charka radiating off the animal.

"What are you?" Arashi half whispered as he scratches the nine tailed animal behind its ear. This wasn't some kind of Genjitsu illsion… At least not one that he could see… Where was all this power coming from?

Suddenly the little moment between man and animal was cut short as the young Hokage finally remembered he had duties to perform.

"Well…" Arashi began as he pulled himself to his feet. "It was a pleasure meeting you…" He thought for a moment about it. Looking at the red fox and it's many tails swaying back and forth. "Nine tails… Yes… That's it! It' was a pleasure meeting you… Kyuubi."

With that, the Yondaime flashed a bright cheesy smile at the fox and gave a short bow.

As far as animals went, the Kyuubi looked somewhat surprised and watched intently as the Fourth Hokage slowly made his way through the sea of green grass.

The Nine Tailed Fox, Kyuubi, sat there watching until the young man was completely out of sight.

A moment later, the fox got up and followed after.

Crying, Arashi Uzumaki, the Fourth Hokage, was crying. Why you might ask? It might have something to do with the two-foot pile of papers lying on his desk.

"I don't want to be Hokage anymore." Arashi mumbled as he slammed his head on his desk. It was at that moment another secretary laid another two inch thick folder on his desk.

"I don't want to be Hokage." Arashi proclaimed, pulling the hat off his head and handing it to the secretary. "Here, you want to be Hokage?"

"Ha! Like I'm that stupid." The Secretary laughed before exiting the office. Leaving the poor Uzumaki to his dreaded fate.

But just as it seemed our young friend here was doomed to hours of menial form signing. Fate decided to give our blonde shinobi a helping hand. How you may ask?

At just that moment, the third and previous Hokage, Sarutobi stepped into the office. With a Cheerful gleam in his eyes and a warm smile, the elder Shinobi made his way to his successor.

"Uzumaki! What are you still doing here? My young friend you should be getting yourself ready now!" Saruboti exclaimed as he pulled the young man from his seat.

"Huh?" Arashi asked completely dumbfounded. But not at all unpleased with being taken away from the dreaded paper work.

"Oh come now boy! Don't tell me you forgot about the festival?" The elder man asked jovially.

Ah yes, the Hidden Leaf's Autumn Festival. A tradition steaming back to the founding of the village three generations ago. A day where all the members of the leaf would hold off on all mission non-A rank or S-rank and celebrate the founding of the village and the strong bonds between all of its Shinobi.

"I would think you would have remember." The Third went on. "Seeing how you are the main attraction at this years festival."

"Oh yes." Arashi nodded. "The first festival where I'll be the Hokage."

"Oh yes, that too." The Third nodded. Obviously he had another reason in mind. "But I'm talking more about another reason."

"Huh?" Arashi asked.

"Oh come now boy!" Sarutobi chided. "You are now the Fourth Hokage. You're a handsome young man and possibly the strongest Shinobi in the village."

"What do you mean 'Possibly' the Strongest?" Arashi smirked. "I thought being the Hokage meant I WAS the strongest."

"Oh I think I can still give you a run for your money now." The third smiled. "But really now. This is a perfect time for you lad!"

"It is?" Arashi was still kind of confused here.

"Yes!" The Third exclaimed. "With all of the most eligible ladies of Konoha will be at this festival." With that, the Third Hokage gave a wink and nudged Arashi in the ribs. "You'll knock 'em dead."

"O-oh, yes that…" The Fourth chuckled nervously. "Well, I'm not quite sure if this is the best time for me to think about such matters…"

"Are you joking lad?" The Third asked. "This is the perfect time! While your still young and can get any pretty girl you want!"

Ah yes. Sarutobi's more perverted nature surfaces again.

"Right." Arashi sighed.

"Good, now go get ready. The Festival will be starting this evening."

It was indeed, quite a display. With the setting sun painting the sky a mural of blues, purples and oranges, it made a perfect mood for the Autumn Festival.

Lanterns were strung up everywhere around the large open court for the festival. Booths for food, and games circled around the entire party area. Children running around in kimonos and yukatas playing games while the adults chose to group together to mingle. Every one of them, old enough to have made it to Genin had their Leaf head bands on. Whether on their foreheads, around there necks or tied into their clothes. All the Shinobi of the Leaf proudly displayed their status as ninjas.

It was a sight that Arashi liked very much. Now standing in the center of the floor, wearing the formal robes of the Hokage. The young man watched with much pleasure as the people of Konoha conjugated and took a very much-deserved moment to truly enjoy themselves.

The people of Konoha, HIS people. In the center floor, many couples were dancing together to the slow sway of the music. Many of the older couples as well as several of the younger, who Arashi could tell by the redness of their faces, where embarrassed but at the same time having the time of their lives with each other.

Ha! Even Rin had dragged Kakashi onto the dance floor. Much to the silver haired boys displeasure.

"Enjoying yourself lad?" Arashi looked mildly surprised as he turned to see the Third coming up to stand next to him.

"Yes, they all look quite happy. It feels wonderful to see them like this." Arashi explained. "Sometimes I worry that I'll imagine this, but never see it."

"Yes, the kind of thing you'd spend your time imagining alone in a grassy field avoiding your paper work." The Third nodded.

"Urk!" Arashi winced. "I take it I was gone too long then?"

"Not really." Sarutobi soothed. "I used to do the same thing when I was Hokage. Sometimes you just need a moment to yourself to forget your worries."

"Hmmm." Arashi nodded. "That reminds me. I ran into quite an extraordinary creature today."

"Really?" The Third said, taking his eyes away from the crowds of people.

"Yes. It was a fox… With nine tails." The blonde explained, noting the look up surprise on the elder man's face.

"Really? A nine tailed demon fox?" The Third asked.

"Demon?" Arashi asked.

"Yes, I've heard some legends in the Fire country about a demon fox that lived in the woods near this village." The third explained, looking thoughtful. "But in all my time, in this village. I've never seen or even heard of another seeing it… What did it look like?"

"Well…" Arashi said as he recalled the incident. "If it was a demon… It was a very beautiful demon. You should have seen the coat of fur on that animal. It was an amazing shine of Auburn red and it felt like silk in my hands… And…" Arashi paused.

"Yes?" Saruboti asked.

"When I got closer to it… I could suddenly feel this incredible wave of chakra radiating from it… I think you were right about it being a demon… Such power. It was amazing."

"You are very lucky man, lad." The nodded. "You know… Speaking of Foxes… Check out the little number over there."

Rolling his eyes. Arashi couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed by his predecessor's blatant lecherous ways. But lecherous or not, the old man still had good taste.

So with that said, Arashi turned to look where the elder man had pointed. And seated there at a table filled with nobles and delegates from all over the Fire Country. Sat what Arashi thought must have been the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Seated there with her legs crossed, wearing a dark red kimono, which Arashi noted wrapped around the woman in such a way to reveal a great deal of cleavage. Her complexion from the tips of her fingers to the end of her nose was milky white. Contrasted by her bright shimmering red lips, eyes, and fingernails.

Her face was angular and her red eyes were narrow and almond shaped, giving a slight foxish look.

And her hair… There was something about her hair, tied into a loose bun with ornate hairpins, cascading loosely around her face and back. Arashi could have sworn he had seen that shade of auburn red before… somewhere.

It was about that time the blonde finally realized that the young woman was looking back at him.

"Go get her lad." The third smiled as he nudged Arashi in the rips and gave him a playful wink.

Turning slightly red, Arashi took a brief moment to compose himself before heading over to the table.

Standing there in front of her, Arashi came to a sudden realization.

He had no idea what to say. But it appeared fate was on his side today as the young woman looked up at him, smiling sensually at him.

"Hello. You are… The Fourth Hokage?" The woman asked politely. As he looked closer at her, Arashi noticed three red lines on each side of her ivory white face. Stretching from the bottom of her jaw to her upper cheeks. It seemed to intensify her exoticness.

"Oh, yes… I am." Arashi fumbled slightly. The woman giggled slightly, bringing her hand to cover her ruby red lips. He voice seemed to have a calm and collect softness to it. "A-and who might you be?"

"My name…" The woman appeared to be thinking about it for a moment. "Kyu…"

"Kyu?" Arashi asked. A grin appearing on his face. "Is that your REAL name?"

"Maybe." Kyu smirked.

"So, what brings a lovely lady such as yourself to our humble village." Arashi asked. The young blonde may have started off rocky, but never forget that this young man was trained by none other than the ladies man himself Jiraiya.

"I… Saw a handsome man going into this village earlier today." Kyu explained. Pulling out a dark crimson fan from her obi and fanning herself with it. "I heard that he would be here at this festival."

"Really?" Okay, this could go either way. Either his luck was just about to run out, and she was talking about someone else or his luck would hold and she was indeed speaking of him.

Well, of course a lot of people had been coming and going through Konoha today in preparations for the festival…

"Would you like some assistance in find him?" Arashi asked, his polite smile never faltering.

"Yes, that would be nice." Kyu nodded. Her ruby red eyes never leaving his sapphire blues. "He had a handsome face, a charming smile … and wonderful golden blonde hair."

Golden blonde hair? SCORE!

"Well, what would you like to do if you found this man?" Arashi asked. His polite smile replaced now with a more knowing and sly one.

"I would very much like to dance with him." Kyu answered.

Without another word, Arashi bowed to the young woman and offered her his hand. "Would you care to dance M'lady?"

"Very much." Taking his hand, Kyu was lead into the dance floor.

What happened next Arashi would later realized that he couldn't quite describe. From the moment he took her hand and lead her onto the floor. It was almost as if he was in a state of euphoria. Yet so much more. Like… like a wonderful trance you didn't want to wake up from. Who was this woman?

As the night winded down, the young Hokage found himself outside the area of the festival. The Beautiful Kyu beside him as they looked up at the monument of the Hokages.

"They are the ones who founded and protected this village." Arashi explained. "This village was precious to them and they protected it with their lives."

Holding onto his arm, Kyu leaned her head against his shoulder.

"And you do the same?" She asked.

"Yes, Everyone in this village is precious to me as well." He nodded. "We shinobi are truly at our strongest when we are protecting what is precious to us."

"Is there anyone particularly special to you?" Kyu asked, not taking her eyes away from the monument of the three previous Hokages carved there.

"I… Uh… Well…" He was fumbling again. " I… I used to have my mother and father."

"Really?" She asked.

"Yes… But they died along time ago."

"I'm sorry." Her voice was barely above a whisper. Arashi looked down at her. She still did not look away from the monument. "So then… There is no one special to your heart?"

"Well, I do have my friends." Arashi explained, but shook his head. "But that's not what you mean is it?"

"No." She answered simply, a smile gracing her red lips. "But you look like you would like to find someone like that."

"You can tell all that from one night?" Arashi chuckled.

"No." Her smile never faltered. "I can tell from all the times I've seen you sitting in that grassy field."

Her smile didn't falter, but his did.

"What?" Arashi asked, confusion clearly evident on his face.

Finally, Kyu turned her head and looked at him. And Arashi noticed that in those ruby eyes, here pupils had suddenly become narrow vertical slits.

"I've watched you in that field for many years." She said turning to face him completely. Was it a play of the eyes? Or did she suddenly sprout fox ears on the topsides of her head?

"You are truly a most intriguing and honorable man… I've seen it." Kyu continued. Gently taking his hand in hers. "You have such power and strength. And yet… You are capable of such tenderness and compassion."

Arashi didn't know why he let her take his hand, or why he didn't object when she move herself closer to him, until they're bodies where touching. It almost felt as though he were in some kind of trance. But a good trance. Oh yes, a VERY good trance.

"I've always wondered if a man such as yourself…" She leaned in closer, propping herself onto her toes as her face slowly reached his. "…really existed."

Arashi, without even thinking, leaned down the rest of the way, and gently met her lips. It was an after thought when they broke the kiss, that Arashi noticed the nine bushy auburn red tails swaying gently behind Kyu.

"Kyu… Kyuubi." Arashi mumbled, half dazed. There was no mystical trance or anything. Just his own surprised shock.

"Yes." Her soft voice traveled into his ears, and her arms wrapped tightly around his waist.

So there he stood. The Fourth Hokage, embraced by a nine tailed demon fox in the form of a beautiful woman. Who appeared to… be in love with him?

There was only one thing that could be said in a situation such as this.

"Wow." He muttered in a half daze.

Before he knew it, her lips were on his again.

And again, and again, again again.

_To be continued…_

**Next Chapter: 12 years later!**


	2. 12 Years Later

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Got it!

This story is inspired by a series of 'Bitch Kyuubi' deviation artworks done by an Artist named 'Croaky.' I really liked the artwork and it inspired me to write this fic. I'd encourage you to check it out.

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE 

Don't get used to me updating this frequently. I just had a burst of inspiration and got this chapter out quickly.

Chapter 2:

The Sun, it provides us with warmth and light. It divides Day and night and breathes life into the green forestry all around. There have been people who have worshipped the sun, and associated it with all things good in the world.

But to one young Hokage, it was his bane.

"Nhh…" The blonde groaned. "You can't make me…"

But still the light persisted.

"I'm the Hokage! I can sleep in as late as I want!"

None have defeated the sun.

"Okay, okay! You win!" With a groan, one, Arashi Uzumaki threw the covers off of his head and got out of bed. "We'll settle this tomorrow!"

It was a good thing the young blonde lived alone, or else someone might have seen him standing in front of his window, pointing a challenging finger at the golden yellow orb in the sky.

"Well." Arashi sighed. "Time for the breakfast of champions!"

With that, the blonde haired man, quickly dressed himself and was out the front door.

* * *

Shortly later, at a small Ramen stand, our the Hokage could be found slurping up noodles.

"My Hokage-Sama… That's your fifth bowl… You uh… Really know how to pack it away…" The Ramen Vender smiled nervously. A large sweat drop formed as Arashi downed the last of the broth. 'Oh, why did I ever come up with that Hokage eats for free deal!'

"Ah… That was good." Arashi sighed as he stood up and began to leave. "It was so generous of you to give me a free discount!"

"No… Problem." The Vender sighed as he looked at the pile of lost profits.

'Well…' Arashi thought. 'Back to work I suppose…'

As Arashi neared his office, a sudden and quite abrupt realization hit him.

"Wait a minute… What the hell happened last night!" The Young Hokage exclaimed… In the middle of a busy street.

Arashi looked somewhat pink as he realized that a number of the villagers were staring at him.

"Heh… heh…" Arashi chuckled nervously as he quickly began walking towards his office again.

* * *

Upon reaching the door, who would just happen to pop up again, but none other than Sarutobi himself. A big smile on the elderly man's face…. A little too big of a smile…

"So Arashi, did you enjoy yourself last night?" The third asked, his smile turning into a sly grin. For a moment Arashi was wondering if the old man was going to nudge him in the ribs… again.

"Um… What do you mean Sarutobi?" Arashi asked nervously. Hm… What did happen last night? Was that… Fox woman real?

"Oh you know what I'm talking about! You and that Foxy looking lady left the festival early, if I do recall." The Third replied his left eyebrow twitching a few times in an implied manner.

Okay, that answers that question…

"So she was real then…" Arashi mumbled to himself. Last night felt so much like a dream… Like it might not have really happened. But wait… If she was real, then was she really a-

"Can't remember?" The Third asked curiously. "Ha! Sure signs that it must have been one hell of a night!"

"Er right. Um, Sarutobi… Uh, I have a lot of paper work to catch up on so I should probably…"

"Say no more lad." The Third chuckled. "I'm done teasing you. If I do recall that pile of paper work grew an extra foot last I saw it. You'd best be focusing on your work now."

"Right." With a nod, the Elder Hokage departed and Arashi was left standing in front of his office again.

'I really do have to get this work done though.' Arashi thought to himself as he entered his office. 'But I can't stop thinking about that woman… What happened last night? Where did she go?'

Closing the door behind him, Arashi turned to look at his desk, and suddenly felt his jaw hang open.

There she was again. In a dark red kimono, legs crossed and propped on his desk. Looking idly through one of the many files on his desk.

"My! Do you really have to read all of these?" Kyu… er Kyuubi asked curiously. Her right index finger coming to rest at the edge of her bright red lips. "Now I see why you're always sitting in that field. Who would want to be stuck in here doing this?"

"Y-you…" Arashi stuttered as he looked at the auburn red headed woman. "How did you… Where did you… Huh!"

Smiling slyly, Kyuubi set the folder back down on the desk and rose from her seat.

"Wondering where I went last night?" Kyuubi asked, slowly making her way to the still frozen Hokage.

"Um, kinda…" Arashi muttered. Kyuubi was now in front of him, wrapping her warms loosely around his waist.

"It was magical." Kyuubi purred into his ear as she rubbed the side of her cheek against his. "You are quite the kisser."

"I… Heh, thank you." Slowly, Arashi was regaining his composure, and with it, his ability to think rationally. "But… How did you get in here?"

"I just walked in." She said simply.

"And no one bothered to stop you?" Arashi asked.

"Nope."

"You… You really are a Demon Fox aren't you?" Arashi asked. Taking the Beautiful woman by the waist and slowly breaking them apart so he could look at her.

"Well of course." Kyuubi replied, taking a step back from him. Suddenly, the image of the Beautiful woman began to dissolve, replace now, with a similar appearance, but now with the Fox like ears, slit eyes, and nine tails. "I revealed myself yesterday didn't I?"

Suddenly the haze over the previous night seemed to lift from the young Shinobi's mind. Recalling now, all the details of their happenings of the night.

"I remember now…" The young blonde said with sudden realization. "You said you had been watching me and… Then you changed into… well that." He said waving his hand towards her current form.

"And then?" Kyuubi asked, smiling more slyly now then ever.

"And then…" Arashi began to turn pink again. "Heh… I remember everything now… But I have to wonder… Why me?"

Kyuubi turned her crimson red eyes to meet his and looked at him curiously. "Why you? Why NOT you?"

"Huh?" The young shinobi was a tad confused.

"Since I first saw you sitting out in that field. I could tell right away you were powerful. I can sense it in your Chakra…." Kyuubi explained. Slowly making her way towards Arashi again. Her nine tails swaying rhythmically with her steps.

"But with all that power and strength…" She continued. "You seemed so… Humble and gentle. So much different than those that I have encountered previously. You… Intrigued me.

"So I watched you, time after time as you came to that same spot… I especially enjoyed the times when you'd talk to yourself." Kyuubi giggled slightly.

"Er… Nobody was suppose to hear that…" Arashi mumbled in embarrassment. He never meant for anyone to hear him vent his personal thoughts. He would definitely have to remember: Even if you THINK you're alone… NEVER TALK TO YOURSELF OUT LOUD!

"I thought it was cute." Kyuubi smiled. "I like listening to you talk… Especially… about precious things."

"Precious things?" Arashi asked. Kyuubi once again had her arms wrapped around his waist. Her head resting gently in the crook of his neck.

"Tell me, DO you have anyone special to your heart? Anyone… Precious?" Her soft voice was once again floating into his ears.

"Maybe." Arashi replied calmly, wrapping his arms around her in return. "I'm not quite sure."

"Really?" Kyuubi asked. "Maybe I can help you figure it out."

"Okay…" Arashi whispered. "But… Can I ask you a question?"

"Hm?"

"Is it wrong that I think the tail thing is hot?" Arashi asked.

* * *

And that's how it began. It started off so quietly, the two sneaking out to see each other whenever possible. Eventually, as time grew on… The villagers of Konoha would see their Lord Hokage walking with a beautiful red haired woman.

Many assumed she was simply a young noble woman from the Fire Country who had caught the young man's interest. There was very little anyone truly knew about her. And upon investigation, could find little information.

There were only a select few who knew the truth. After many months, the Fourth Hokage eventually let his predecessor in on the secret love affair and even later his two remaining ex-students.

It was nearly a year later, before Arashi and Kyuubi decided to wed. Like everything in their relationship, it was a quiet affair. Only a very select few were invited. The only people invited where Rin, Kakashi, Jiraiya, and then Sarutobi who performed the ceremony.

Like I said, it was a quiet little ceremony, on a cold autumn morning on top of a familiar grassy hill.

You would think… That this is where everything would turn out all right. Two people, happily married, a wonderful like together…

Happily ever after?

But unfortunately… This is where everything begins to go down hill.

* * *

It was now mid spring and Arashi was in his office, again trying to tackle the undefeatable enemy known as paper work. His mind occasionally drifting to his wife… and ever growing bulge that was her stomach. She was due any day now, and the Fourth Hokage was riddled with anxious anxiety.

But the Hokage was soon brought out of his wandering thoughts when one of his many subordinates burst hurriedly into his office.

"Hokage-sama!" The young ninja exclaimed, fumbling to his knees on the floor. He looked ragged and out of breath. Also, Arashi noticed, that he appeared to have a number of wounds scattered across his body.

"What's wrong! What happened to you!" Arashi exclaimed, bolting from his desk and crouching down to examine the young ninja.

"It… it was horrible my lord!" The ninja panted, trying desperately to catch his breath. "It- It was a monster!"

"Monster?" Arashi was obviously confused. "What kind of monster?"

"A- A demon!" The ninja replied. "A giant… Fiery Fox!"

'Fox?' Arashi's face began to pail. "W-what kind of Fox?"

"It was taller than all of the trees of Fire Country!" The Ninja explained. Slowly raising himself to his feet. Clutching his left side. "With a burning red aura and nine tails."

"What!" Arashi exclaimed. "What do you mean it had nine tails!"

"I-It's exactly as I said my Lord." The ninja said, taking a step back in suprise. "My patrol team was scouting through the forest when… Suddenly out of nowhere, this giant beast appeared! Half my patrol was killed instantly. As the rest of us tried to escape… I… I was the only one to get away alive."

"Oh my god…" Arashi whispered. Had Kyuubi… Had… SHE done this? No, there had to be another explanation.

"I… I tried to lead the beast away, but no matter what, it would go in no direction but towards the village!"

"It's heading this way right now?" Arashi asked, putting his thoughts of his wife away for the moment. "How far away is it?"

"As far as I can tell, it will be several hours before it will reach the village. It seemed to be moving at a slow pace." The ninja replied.

"Gather every available ninja! Prepare a defensive line in front of the demon's incoming path. Inform everyone of the current situation. Make sure you tell the Third absolutely everything. I have to go consult with someone." Without another word, Arashi left his office and headed straight to his home.

He was going to have to have a discussion with his wife.

* * *

"W-what?" Arashi could tell by his wife's surprised answer that she obviously knew something.

"What do you know about this NINE TAILED Fox demon?" Arashi asked. This was no time for games. If what his subordinate said was true… The Village could be in grave danger.

"I… It's just that…" This was probably the first time Arashi had ever seen his wife panicky… ever. Yes, she knew something all right. And the fact that it had his wife acting this way truly scared him.

Oh Yes. It scared him a lot.

Clutching her stomach and slowly easing herself out of her seat. Kyuubi turned her red eyes to look squarely into her husbands.

"Do you remember… When we first met, when I told you that you were different then those that I had met before you?" Kyuubi asked. Her hand unconsciously rubbing the large swell of her stomach.

"Vaguely." Arashi replied.

"Before you… Several hundred years before…" Kyuubi swallowed. "I had a mate, who was like myself."

"A mate like you?" Arashi asked. "Another Demon Fox."

"Yes." Kyuubi nodded. "But… As I said before… He was much different than you. He reveled in his strength and power. Smothered others with it as he chose. Controlling whoever he wanted with shear force. I… I grew tired of him quickly, and left."

"You just left?" Arashi asked.

"Yes…" She nodded. "With all the havoc he enjoyed reaping… It did not seem as though he'd even notice. Not that I honestly cared…"

"But he's here now…" Arashi continued. "And he's here… For you?"

"Most likely." She sighed. "I would have thought he would have lost interest at centuries ago."

"Well, right now, he's within an hour's time of reaching here." Arashi informed her. "And I need to know how to stop him."

"I… I'm not sure you can." Kyuubi admitted. "We demon foxes have an almost infinite amount of power. It makes us… Near immortal."

"So, with the level of power that that demon possesses…" Arashi began.

"He can't be killed." Kyuubi finished. "He'll come for me… And then destroy the village… Whether I go with him willingly or not… He will destroy this place. It's what he does."

"I can't allow that." Arashi stated.

"I-I know… But how can you stop him? I am a demon fox myself and I could never defeat him."

"Maybe…" Arashi mumbled. His mind going in circles trying to think of a solution. Falling back on absolutely everything he was ever taught. Every trick, skill, technique, even his hold sensei's perverted Jitsus ran through his head, anything that he could think of.

Then an idea hit. A horrible idea. "What if you could drain away his power?"

"Drain away his power?" Kyuubi asked. The very thought didn't seem plausible to her. But she nodded her head anyways. "If you could drain away his power. Then yes, you could kill him."

"Alright then." Arashi said, nodding his head solemnly. "Come with me… There is much to prepare then."

* * *

As the couple made their way to the Hokage's office. The ninja's of the defensive line came into full contact with the raging fox demon.

While many Shinobi of Konoha fought with all their might against the raging beast. Arashi, Kyuubi, and even Sarutobi who was already present at the office, began putting together the plan to defeat the raging demon. It took nearly half the day to prepare everything. Why did it take so long? … Well… There was a final piece to the plan, that wasn't quite ready yet.

But, when all was finally prepared, Arashi, along with Kyuubi, rode atop Gamabunta, the Frog boss and made their way to the battlefield.

* * *

In the time since the fight with the monster began, many shinobi lay dead on the ground. The remaining forces spread around in an attempt to keep the creature at bay.

Arashi looked Solemn. More Solemn than anyone had ever seen him in all his life. To look into that man's eyes, would be looking straight into grim resolve at it's worsts.

"Are you ready?" Arashi asked, turning to his wife. Her face was smeared with tears, looking down at a small bundle cradled tightly against her chest. The bulge of her stomach suddenly… Gone.

"No." Kyuubi whimpered. But contrary to her reply, the red headed woman reluctantly handed the bundle to her husband.

"I…" Looking at the small infant cradled in his hands, for a brief moment, Arashi Uzumaki wondered what the hell he was doing.

'Oh that's right…' He recalled. Turning his first born child… into a sacrifice.

"I'm so sorry… Naruto." Arashi whispered, holding the newborn infant close to him. "This is… The only way."

Setting the child down gently on the toads head. The Fourth Hokage began to make a long series of rapid seals. "Keep it steady Boss!" Arashi called out to the giant frog.

"I'm on it." The toad boss grumbled, taking a defensive position in front of the demon fox, sword drawn and ready.

"Kyuubi!" Arashi called, as began a second series of hand seals. "I'm ready!"

Nodding her head, Kyuubi place her pale hands on each of Arashi's wrists and let her immense power flow into him.

* * *

Down on the grown, from the view point of many of the Leaf ninjas, a sudden and explosive yellow vortex seemed to appear on top of the summoned toad's head.

The yellow vortex began to pull in the burning red chakra of the Demon fox at an alarming rate. The Animal couldn't seem to act fast enough as his near infinite power was suddenly being ripped away from him.

It happened so fast. All those around could hardly believe it. The Demon Fox let out a deafening roar of defiance, but could follow up with little else.

When it was finally over and the last of the giant monster's power seemed to have been sucked away, the creature was left, looking pale and gray… Barely able to keep itself balanced.

That was all the time needed. With one mighty swoop. The Boss Toad's great sword sunk straight through the beast's head.

A powerful Demon of near infinite power, which had walked upon this world for Millennia, died.

Collapsing to the ground dead, the once terrifying monster now lay in a heap. It's body quickly dissolving into ash.

With his time on the mortal plane spent for now, Gamabunta sunk back into the ground leaving behind one body, which had been lying on his head.

On closer inspection, it was indeed the Fourth Hokage. Dead, with a small infant clutched in his still warm hands, crying.

Quickly making his way through the crowd of warrior, Sarutobi made his way to the scene. Looking down gravely, the elder man pulled the small infant front the dead man's hands and cradled the child.

For a brief moment, the elderly man kept his eyes closed, his thoughts a mystery to those around him.

"All of you! Collect the dead, and bring the wounded inside the village! Attend to your injuries! When all is settled, there will be much that will need discussing!"

With only one final look towards the now deceased Hokage, the elderly man and now once again Hokage, carried the young infant with him into the walls of Konoha.

The body of Kyuubi, was nowhere to be found. Because of the secret affair between her and Arashi, no one knew to even look.

* * *

12 Years Later:

In a deep part of the shadowy forest boarding the territory of the Hidden Leaf village, there lay a sizable mound in a small grove. With years of growth, a thick layer of moss now covered whatever may have lied beneath.

For many years, this very patch of forest had been left totally undisturbed. An unnatural force keeping all things away, giving off an instinctual feeling to both animals and human to kept their distance.

But now, after much time, things were going to begin moving again.

"Ugh…" A hoarse moan seemed to emanate from the moss covered moan. "Ugh!"

With a number of sharp thrashes a figure emerged from the thick layer of green. Bright auburn red hair popped out and with blurry eyes scanning the surroundings, a woman slowly emerged.

In a tattered Crimson red kimono, the woman looked around in confusion at her surroundings. Nine Bushy tails moving around chaotically behind her.

"W-what… what happened?" The woman whispered.

* * *

Next Chapter: Haven't thought up a name yet!

Ha! I named the "Chapter 12 years later" But it doesn't actually get to that part until the last six paragraphs of the whole chapter. Also, a quick note to Sentai, Sorry, I'm not a fan of Shounen-ai(or however it's spelled). But don't worry, I'm going to make the pairings(if any) as plausible as possible. None of this "Pair every character together possible, even if it doesn't make sense" stuff, just one or two at most. Well, hope you liked the chapter.


	3. Failure and Acceptance

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. But man… It would be so BADASS if I did…

This story is inspired by a series of 'Bitch Kyuubi' deviation artworks done by an Artist named 'Croaky.' I really liked the artwork and it inspired me to write this fic. I'd encourage you to check it out.

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE 

Hey! Sorry I'm late with the update… Heh… I uh was kind of busy taking finals and uh, graduating. I was also holding off posting this because I was thinking of scrapping this chapter and doing a total rewrite… But I'm too lazy. So I'm really going to be wracking my brain for chapter 4… Oh well, enjoy.

To those who have reviewed: Thanks! I take great pleasure in reading your reviews especially those of you who left me comments about what parts you like and so on. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

And to Blitz Kitsune: Wow, you remember that! I haven't done those since sophomore year of high school I think…

* * *

Chapter 3:

"Good morning Hokage-sama!" The young secretary greeted. Standing up from her desk to acknowledge the elderly man with a bow.

"Ah good morning, how are you this morning?" Sarutobi asked, smiling warmly at the young lady.

"Very good my lord, m cousin is taking his final exam in the ninja academy today." The secretary smiled.

"Ah, I'm sure he'll pass with flying colors." Elder man grinned. "Another generation ready to help serve the village."

"Yes my lord." The young woman agreed as she returned to her seat. "The usual paper work is on your desk."

"Wonderful." Sarutobi sighed dejectedly. Well, nobody can avoid the inevitable.

Upon entering his office and closing the door, the aged ninja could immediately sense something was out of place.

There were already several Kunais in his robe-covered hand when he took several steps into the darkened room, stretching out his honed senses to find the intruder.

He blinked in surprise when he felt a strange, but familiar presence.

"You can show yourself. I'm alone." He called out, the Kunais were gone from his hand.

Staggering slightly, a woman who Sarutobi thought he would never see again emerged from the shadows of a corner. She looked haggard and a bit tired, the nine bushy red tails behind her dragging sluggishly against the floor.

"Hello… Sarutobi." The woman murmured, leaning against his desk.

"My God." The elderly man whispered, already at her side, giving her support. "Kyuubi…. How…"

"It was a bit of a walk to get here… I had to use a lot of power to keep from being seen… I'll be alright in a little bit." Kyuubi explained, detaching herself from the Third and standing on her own again. "What's happened?"

"What do you mean 'what's happened?'" Sarutobi asked. "I should be the one to ask you that."

"I… I'm not quite sure how to answer that." Kyuubi admitted.

"Come sit down" Sarutobi said, leading her to a worn coach that stood against the far wall. "I think you and I have much to discuss…"

* * *

"…That's all I remember." Kyuubi finished. It had been several hours now since their discussion had begun. Sarutobi had informed Kyuubi on much of the happenings after the incident twelve years ago.

The young(in appearance really) woman appeared to be looking better now in the time she had had to rest. But her disposition was a very different matter.

Much had changed in the time that she was gone. Arashi, yes she knew that her husband was dead, that was something she had already known was going to happen twelve years ago.

As their discussion had continued there was only one thing really on her mind. And the elderly man had yet to address it.

"Hmm… Yes… As far as I can tell..." Sarutobi said, nodding his head in understanding. "When you channeled your energy into Arashi to perform that draining jutsu, it needed a continued source of power to keep going. Most likely, I think it continued to feed off your power so it could finish off the other Fox demon's. Probably leaving you both in a similar state."

"Not a very effective Jutsu." Kyuubi commented. "A double edged sword that does almost more damage to the user than the target."

"Well, considering the amount of time we had to prepare, I dare say it was a miracle it even worked to begin with." Sarutobi shrugged, the once cheerful face of the elderly man, finally showing all the weariness of years and years as a shinobi and a leader.

"So then why did I wake up nearly twelve years later?" The red head asked.

"I can only guess at this point." Saruboti said, scratching thoughtfully at his beard. "You are a demon fox, to sustain yourself; you require a near infinite amount of energy. With almost all of your power used up. My best guess is that your body went into a type of self preservation mode and found a secluded place to hide while your energy built up again and you could sustain yourself physically.

"But twelve years?" Kyuubi asked.

"Like I said, a creature such as you, I would dare say would need that much time to… 'Recharge.'"

"I…" She was speechless. Twelve years gone… Her husband… dead. Her son…

Her son!

"You've avoided something Sarutobi." Kyuubi stated accusingly.

"Ah," The old man nodded. "I should have known better… Yes, Naruto."

"Is he alright?" Kyuubi asked worriedly. "Can I… Can I see him?"

"I not sure now would be a good time for that." Sarutobi replied, scratching the side of his head in thought. "There is still more I need to explain.

And so he did. And the red headed demon fox was not happy, at all.

The Third had explained the whole situation about Naruto, to the decision of the elder's and council to keep the secret of the demon fox incident from the children of the village, and especially Naruto himself. The fabricated lies made to substitute the true origins of the young boy's existence on that faithful day. Even, the boy's treatment by the villagers was not held back from his mother. The old Hokage couldn't find it in his heart to lie to her, not now, not like this.

"So…" Kyuubi began "… Where is he now?" She appeared to be calm and collected, but the he knew what was going on inside her head. He too had once had a wife and he could tell what was going through her mind.

Sighing, he knew it would be pointless to not tell her. She'd just go looking anyways.

"Well, if I am correct about the time." He began, looking towards the clock hanging on the nearby wall. "I would say he's at the academy graduation ceremony right now."

"Graduation ceremony?" Kyuubi looked surprised. "He's already going to become a genin?"

"Well, if he passed that is." The elder man admitted, sweating a bit nervously.

"I'm sure he's done fine." Kyuubi stated, rising from her seat. "I'm going now."

"You know… I actually could stop you. I'm not sure this is the right time." Sarutobi stated, rising from his own seat as well.

"You could… But you won't." Kyuubi replied, a faint ghost of a smile on her lips.

"Heh…" The old man chuckled. "No, I won't… Just please be careful. Things have been very difficult for him."

"I understand." Was her last reply, with that, she was gone.

Sighing, the Third Hokage sat wearily at his desk.

What a day…

And then the old man looked at all the papers that still lay on his desk…

She had no way to confirm it, but in the next room, the Hokage's secretary could have sworn she heard the Saindaime crying…

* * *

It was mid afternoon; the sun was high over the sky, shining down upon the village of the hidden leaf. The sounds of joyful laughter could be heard floating through the air.

At the ninja academy, the next years class of graduates where situated in the outside yard. The children's parents celebrating the newly appointed ninja's accomplishments. It was a joyous occasion all around.

… Mostly…

Sitting on a small wooden swing off to the side of the courtyard sat a short blonde boy. His body drifting back and forth as he looked longingly at the display going on before him.

A mother kissing her daughter on the cheek, a father ruffling his son's hair as he smiled brightly at the boy.

Another father tossing his son proudly into the air and catching him.

They all looked so happy and proud of their children.

The young boy in the swing, Naruto could barely keep his eyes open. Watching all of them together, so happy… It made that longing feeling feel so much deeper.

When he opened his eyes again, Naruto took notice of a strange looking woman wondering around the courtyard. She was wearing a plain dark red kimono and her hair was tied back in a loose bun, letting the majority of her hair hang down her back. Though that wasn't strange in itself, it was the bright auburn red hair and pale white skin that made her noticeable in a crowd.

Another thing that caught his attention were the three red marks that lay on each side of her cheeks. Unconsciously, Naruto scratched idly at the thin black marks that resided on his face.

She appeared to be looking through the crowd of children and parents. Most likely looking for her own somewhere. With a sigh, Naruto turned his gaze to his feet, barely able to touch the ground from his spot on the swing due to his short stature.

"Excuse me?" Blinking, Naruto looked up to see who was addressing him. To his surprise it was the red headed woman. She was bent down at the waist, with her hands on her knees looking at him at eye level. Her head crooking to the side as she appeared to be examining him.

"Y-yeah?" Naruto asked wearily. Any and all experience with adults had taught him to be careful. They were ALWAYS yelling at him or thowing stuff at him or chasing him away with brooms.

The woman just continued to stare at him. Her almond shaped eyes squinting shut in a foxish look. After another moment, the woman smiled, gave a sharp nod, and stood up straight again.

"Can I ask you a question?" The woman asked, walking around so that she was beside the blonde boy, looking out at the small congregation of people.

"Yeah, What?" Naruto looked puzzled, as he stared up at the strange woman. Her gaze was directed at the crowd. Did she want him to find her kid in the crowd or something?

"Why aren't you celebrating with the other children over there?" She asked. Naruto could feel his throat tightening as he turned to look at his feet again.

"I uh… I didn't pass." He mumbled. The red head looked surprised as she looked at him.

"You didn't pass?" She indeed did looked quite surprised. "Why?"

Naruto REALLY didn't want to get into this, especially with a complete stranger. But despite that, the fact that someone was actually paying attention to him completely overrode his embarrassment.

"I couldn't perform the final exam jutsu." The boy admitted. "I uh… I bombed it."

Blinking, the redhead stared at him.

"I couldn't do a simple Bushin…" Naruto explained.

"Oh, I see." She replied.

A moment of silence. What was she going to do? Laugh at him like all the other villagers?

There was a short rustling behind him and then a surprised Naruto found himself sailing forward in the swing. When he came back, he looked up to see the woman holding onto the ropes.

"This is a very nice swing." She commented. "I bet it's a lot of fun."

"W-well yeah." Naruto replied, a smile creeping onto his face. "It's my favorite."

"I bet it's a lot of fun having someone to push you." She added, giving the swing another push, sending Naruto forward again.

"Yeah." The boy's smile was growing wider now.

Back in forth he went as she continued to push him, Naruto's earlier mood seemly forgotten.

"So what are you going to do now?" She asked suddenly. Bring the young boy out of his brief happy trance.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, turning his head to look up at the red head.

"Now that you failed. Are you going to try again?" She asked, her tone sounding merely thoughtful.

"Well… Well of course!" Naruto replied a familiar fire returning to the blonde. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Do you think I'm going to let this stop me!"

The woman smiled.

"I'm glad to hear it." She replied.

"Y-you are?" This was a surprise. In all of his life, Naruto had never met anybody who had ever said anything encouraging like that to him. Well… Except maybe for his academy teacher Iruka… But Iruka was also always yelling at him too.

"Of course. Who wouldn't want such a nice boy to succeed?" The woman smiled brightly. As she leaned forward, a number of her red locks fell in front of her and into Naruto's face.

Brushing the red strands of hair out his face, Naruto stared up in awe at the strange woman.

"Who are you anyways?" He finally asked. The woman looked somewhat taken aback and released her hold on the swing.

"Um… I'm…" She appeared to be pausing for a moment to think about it. "My name is Kyu…"

"Kyu?" Naruto asked jumping out of the swing to look at her. "Well thanks Kyu! I'm definitely going to pass! One way or another! Just wait and see!"

"That's very good." The Kyu smiled.

"Well, I have to go! Make sure to look for me Kyu! Next time you see me, I'm gonna be a full fledged ninja!" Naruto proclaimed, before dashing off, waving the whole time until he was out of sight.

Kyuubi wore a bitter smile as she watched him go. It was, as she realized much harder to tell him who she was than she had realized. But… Why? Wouldn't it have been good if she had told him she was his mother. Wouldn't he have been happy?

Wouldn't he?

Maybe Sarutobi knew more of what he was talking about than she thought.

But still, he seemed like such a nice boy. That was good. Maybe there was still hope that she could reclaim her title as mother.

While Kyuubi was deep within her own thoughts, she hadn't noticed two women from the main crowd of people walk over to her. Blinking in surprise, the redhead turned to look at the two.

"You must be new here." The first woman stated.

"Um… Yes." Kyuubi replied carefully. She hadn't realized she stood out THAT much.

"It's understandable. We saw you talking to… It, and thought you should be careful." The second woman explained.

"Excuse me?" Kyuubi looked puzzled.

"Where really not suppose to talk about it." The first continued, looking around carefully to make sure no one was listening. "But be careful. That thing is a monster. If you're not careful you might get killed."

The sheer intensity of the glare that the two women received was so powerful that they both jumped back in surprise.

Kyuubi left without another word.

* * *

As Naruto sped off in search of his teacher, a sudden shout of his name caught his attention. Turning around, Naruto was surprised to find one of his other teachers standing behind him.

"Hey Naruto, can I have a word with you?" Mizuki asked.

* * *

Several Hours Later:

Kyuubi, had decided not to return to the Hokage's office, it would be pointless seeing as how he would most likely be at home so late in the day.

So there she was merely strolling through the now deserted streets of the village. Looking up at the forming twinkling stars in the sky.

How had it all turned out like this? Why did it have to be this way?

But of course, she knew why it was this way. Kyuubi knew exactly who brought all these horrible events to fruition. And it made the guilt grow that much more steadily inside her.

With her head still looking up towards the stars, Kyuubi blinked in surprise when she noticed a small figure exit out of a nearby window, what a appeared to be a large scroll tied to their back.

Before she could do or say anything, the figure sprung from the window and from rooftop to rooftop, leaping out of sight in an instant.

'What's going on?' Kyuubi thought as she turned back to the window. Taking a deep breath and gathering her strength, Kyuubi leapt the three-story distance to the open window.

Peering inside, the red head took immediate notice of the elderly figure sprawled on the ground.

"Sarutobi!" Kyuubi exclaimed in surprise, crawling through the window and going to help the old man. There was, as she noticed a LOT of blood coming out of his nose.

"Sarutobi! Wake up!"

Blinking woozily, the elderly Hokage opened his eyes. "Ugh… Kyuubi… W-what's going on?"

"You tell me? I saw somebody jump out of your window and found you here in a pool of your own blood! Who could have done this to you!"

"Oh, uh that." The Third chuckled nervously. "That would have been Naruto."

"What!"

"Uh yes." Sarutobi nodded sheepishly. "He exploited my one weakness completely."

"He had a nudie magazine with him?" Kyuubi asked in surprise.

Sarutobi looked even more embarrassed. "Er not exactly… Ahem! That's not the point. The point is that he took a very important scroll with him!"

"What? Why?" Kyuubi asked in shock.

"I'm not sure…" Sarutobi admitted. "But the problem lies in what scroll he took."

"What scroll was it?" Kyuubi asked.

"Remember the scroll Arashi was working on before he died?" The elder man asked as he got back to his feat.

'Oh." Kyuubi thought. 'THAT scroll.'

* * *

With his eyes closed, the head teacher of the ninja academy, Iruka Omiha(I tried really hard to find his last name, really, I did. Sorry.) thought back on the words the Hokage had spoken to him.

_'I do understand how you feel about the boy.'_ The Hokage's voice drifted through his thoughts. _'Growing up like you, without his parent's love.'_

He tried to block the memory out, but it came back like many times before. The raging red beast, with its devastating tales lashing back and forth.

_'No! Let me go! Mom and dad are still fighting the demon!'_

It hurt every time, no matter what.

Knock, Knock!

Blinking, Iruka got up from his bed and opened the door to find a worried Mizuki standing there.

"Mizuki… What's going on?" Iruka asked worriedly.

"It' bad." Mizuki replied. "Naruto somehow found out about the secret scroll! He's stolen it!"

'Oh god.' Iruka thought.

* * *

An hour later…

This was definitely a new experience.

Never, in a millennia of life had Kyuubi ever experienced anything like it. Her lungs were on fire, her throat felt as dry as wind country. Her legs, she had stopped feeling anything in her legs a while ago. She felt like she was running on stilts connected to her torso.

Yes, this was a new experience for her.

For the first in her entire life, Kyuubi was complete and utterly physically exhausted.

Well that sort of thing is to be expected when a creature of near infinite power is running on barely a fraction of their former strength. Twelve years or not, it's going to take a damn near long time to recover.

Maybe… Maybe even forever.

But that was the least of the demon fox's worries at the moment. Exhausted or not, she had to keep going. She had to find him before one of those enraged ninjas found and killed him.

That's why she was out here in this forest, searching desperately with no clue as to her son's whereabouts.

When the Hokage had first gathered the search teams she had remained in the shadows to watch.

She had felts so enraged and helpless as she saw the reactions of the group of ninjas. Rage for the hated words they dared to speak about her child and helplessness because there was nothing she could do about it.

But one of those ninja's had caught her attentions. Iruka wasn't it? He was Naruto's teacher if she had heard Sarutobi correctly. The look in his eyes… He must've known where Naruto was.

And so she had followed him, out into the darkness of the forest.

Unfortunately, what Kyuubi hadn't thought about was just how fast ninja's are when you yourself have nothing but the ordinary speed of a human. She had lost sight of Iruka almost right away.

So now she was running though the great forest of Konoha without any idea as to where to go. Only on the brief chance that she would find her son.

I guess it turns out for once, fate was on her side.

As the pale skinned redhead ran through the forest, a sudden crashing sound caught her attention. Skidding to a halt, Kyuubi craned her head upward just in time to see Naruto(with the forbidden scroll) slam full force into his teacher, Iruka.

"Naruto!" Kyuubi gasped in shock. What was he doing!

"Naruto…" Iruka muttered, getting back to his feet. "How did you know wasn't Iruka?"

With a poof of smoke, Iruka was gone, replace with an unfamiliar white haired ninja. A sinister look in his eyes.

"Simple." Naruto smirked, leaning heavily against a tree. "Because I am."

With a second poof of smoke, Naruto was revealed to be the real Iruka.

In all of her worry, Kyuubi found a moment to curse herself. Was she really THAT weak that she couldn't even see through a simple human illusion?

Being careful not to alert the two to her presence, Kyuubi carefully crept her way to hide behind one of the nearby trees.

She kept her eyes fixed upon the two ninjas. Making sure that neither looked at her. She only looked away when she bumped into something as she crept behind a tree.

Startled, she looked down to see none other that Naruto! A startled and utterly puzzled looked on his face as he looked at her. In his tightly gripped hands was the forbidden scroll.

"Kyu-" Naruto was about to speak when Kyuubi put a hand to her lips in a quieting motion. She then looked back around the tree at Iruka and the other ninja.

* * *

"Hee, hee… So Noble." Mizuki sneered. "To save your parent's murderer. And for what? What happens if we let him live."

"Then maybe the scroll is safe from a scumbag like you." Iruka replied. Ugh, he had so many wounds from the earlier shuriken assault, his body felt like it could barely move. But Naruto was okay, that's all that mattered.

"Naruto and I are two of a kind you know." Mizuki said, stepping closer. "With that scroll, I can attain the same kind of limitless power!"

"What?" Iruka asked. Mizuki couldn't be talking about…

"The demon within hungers for that kind of power!" Mizuki exclaimed. "You were right to fear him."

* * *

Naruto couldn't believe it. So it was true then. His teacher really held him… In contempt. The tears were starting to come to his eyes now. The scroll in his hands gripped bone crushingly tight to his body.

So it was true then. What Mizuki had said.

'You are the Nine tailed Demon Fox who attacked Konoha twelve years ago!'

'Haven't you always wondered why everyone always hated you?'

It all seemed to make such painful sense. All those years… all the glares, the scornful words. The feeling of complete loneliness.

_'Get lost you little brat!'_

_'Don't go near that boy! He's nothing but trouble!'_

_'He'll never amount to anything.'_

It hurt so much… all of it.

_'Just give up you loser!'_

_'You can't do it, can you?'_

Now he understood.

'_Now that you failed. Are you going to try again?'_

He blinked. Wait… Those hadn't been words of scorn…

_'This is a nice swing… I bet it's nice to have someone to push you.'_

That woman… Looking up, Naruto saw Kyu staring down at him. Her eyes, they weren't filled with hatred… No! She was looking at him with… sadness? Her hands were on his shoulders, holding onto him softly.

'_Of course. Who wouldn't want such a nice boy to succeed?'_

No, she didn't hate him, unlike everyone else.

"You're right." Naruto could hear Iruka's voice. "I do hate the fox."

Kyu's grip tightened on his shoulders.

"But not the boy. Not Naruto." Iruka finished.

Naruto blinked in surprise. No… He couldn't have heard that right…

"For Naruto, I have nothing but the utmost respect. He is an excellent student." Naruto looked up to see Kyu smiling. She appeared to be looking over at the two ninjas.

"He works with all his might, and because he is clumsy and screws up, people have mocked him and shunned him.

"It has given him empathy." The words floated to Naruto's ears. Was he hearing things? Was this real? Did… Did Iruka-sensei really mean it?

"That boy is not the demon fox. He is a citizen of Konohagakure Village…"

'Iruka-sensi…'

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

* * *

Kyuubi couldn't hold back her tears. Despite the situation, those words had filled her with great pride. Looking down, she could tell those same words had had the most effect on her son.

The tears of joy were over flowing.

After seeing that smile on his face, to Kyuubi the rest had been but a blur. Naruto had moved out of her grasp and stopped the attacking ninja from killing Iruka. She recalled faintly that Naruto had created nearly a thousand shadow clones of himself. Completely powered by the need to protect the man who had accept her son, all of his faults included, no matter if they were true or a fabricated lie.

She would always remember it. The moment her son opened his eyes, wearing Iruka's head protector of the leaf on his head. Her presence had been completely forgotten, all the events that had transpired had moved her to the background of everything around them. But that was okay for now.

So she watched, silently from behind that tree. The look of pure joy on his face as he embraced his teacher. He was now a Konoha Leaf Ninja… Just like…

Just like his father.

'I wish you were here Arashi…'

* * *

That's it for this chapter. Look forward to seeing a one shot humor fic by me involving one of the more unthought-of (straight) pairings in Naruto. As always, I read every single review you send… a couple hundred times in fact… 


	4. Uncovered Lies and Chuunin Side Story

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. But man… It would be so BADASS if I did…

This story is inspired by a series of 'Bitch Kyuubi' deviation artworks done by an Artist named 'Croaky.' I really liked the artwork and it inspired me to write this fic. I'd encourage you to check it out. There is a link to it in my profile.

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE 

Hey! Look at me! I'm updating sooner than a month! I've actually got time on my hands now!

Once again I appreciate all your reviews, those of you who have given me the privilege of your personal opinion on my story. I thank you.

Also a quick note, I've been getting a lot of stuff about this in my reviews, so I'll make it clear right now. **N**O **M**X**M** **STUFF**. I'm going to do two… MAYBE three straightpairing at the most. And I promise, it will be **PLOSSIBLE**. Meaning, **IN CHARACTER**. None of this '_hook up every character available in Naruto stuff_.'

Just thought I'd make that clear…

* * *

Chapter 4:

It was early evening in the village of the hidden leaf. The sun was still making it's decent before night took over. The sky was a collage of reds, oranges and purples. It was a beautiful sight to behold. It made many a pedestrian pause in their travel to take a moment to appreciate its wonder.

But sadly, one of those people was NOT a certain blonde haired shinobi.

Grumbling to himself, the foxish boy slowly made his way back to his home, paying attention to nothing but the ground.

"Stupid jerks…" Naruto mumbled. "They could have at least untied me before they left."

Yes, earlier that day, the young Uzumaki had met with his new Genin team today to perform their first mission with their Jounin teacher, Kakashi.

The mission, it turned out, was the final test in becoming genin. A test that Naruto's group, Team Seven, nearly failed. But in the end, the three young shinobi had prevailed. Winning their new teacher's approval by showing their ability to work together as a team… Even if it meant breaking the rules and feeding the poor fox boy.

_"Those that break the rules are considered trash."_ Kakashi had said. "_But those who don't care about their teammates are even worse trash."_

The lazy looking teacher had seemed so adamant about that…

Well, anyways as far as teams went, Naruto couldn't complain… Too much. I mean… He had the pink haired babe Sakura on his team! This was great! Since they would be together all the time, it would be easy to win her over. Well… except for one minor problem… He was also on the same team as Mr. Hot shot himself, Uchiha Sasuke.

'Damnit! How the hell am I suppose to impress Sakura-chan now!' Naruto thought gloomily. "Hmph! I'm just going to have to prove I'm better than that bastard!'

Yes, Naruto could see it all now…

_"Oh Naruto!" Sakura gasped in awe. "You kicked that loser Sasuke's ass!"_

_"Yep!" Naruto beamed proudly, tilting his head down to look at Sakura. "It was a piece of cake!"_

_"Oh Naruto…" Sakura said, her eyes full of stars. "You're so strong!"_

_"Sakura…" Naruto began. His eyes looking down into hers. They're hands reaching out to each other._

_Wait… Why was Naruto suddenly taller?_

_Oh right! It was because he was standing on Sasuke's defeated form._

_"Ugh…" Sasuke groaned. "I was a fool to go up against YOU Naruto."_

_"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Naruto laughed Merrily._

In the streets of Konoha. Many Pedestrians wondered by that bizarre demon boy had suddenly burst into a laughing fit in the middle of the street.

Yep, in Naruto's mind it was a perfect world! But, let's head back to reality for a quick moment.

**WHAM!**

Unfortunately, in reality, there are still metal lamp posts that you can run into if you're not paying attention to where you're going.

"Dumb kid! Watch where you're going!" A nearby shop owner shouted. "Damaging a perfectly good lamp post…" He muttered as he went back to sweeping.

"Stupid jerk." Naruto Mumbled, rubbing his face as he got up from the ground. It was a good thing that brat Konohamaru wasn't around… Naruto wouldn't hear the end of it from the little snot.

He had only met the kid three days ago and already he was a pain in the butt for the fox boy.

"You really should watch where your going you know." A feminine voice stated behind him.

Turning around quickly, the blond came face to face with a familiar pale skinned red head.

"Kyu!" Naruto exclaimed in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Well… I was just going for a walk and when I saw you, I thought I'd say hello." The red head said with a smile.

"Really?" Wow, this was nice of her. Naruto hadn't actually seen the red head since the incident in the forest. Hey wait… that reminded him…

"Hey Kyu?"

"Hm?"

"What were you doing in the forest a couple of days ago?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Uh, well looking for you of course." Kyu replied simply, as if it was the most obvious answer.

"Really? Why?" Naruto was puzzled. He had only met this woman earlier that day. Why would she have been so worried?

"Well… uh… you…Er… Seemed liked… such a nice boy! I didn't want anything to happen to you!" Whew… that was a close one.

"Really?" Naruto had a completely stunned look on his face.

"Well…. Yes." Why was it so difficult to answer these questions? She was his mother! Of course she would look for him!

… But he didn't know that, Kyuubi thought sadly. To him, she was just a random stranger… Why was it so difficult to tell him the truth? It felt as if there was something holding her back, some terrible fear clutching at her heart… But what?

Was it… Guilt?

Well, her simple answers seemed to satisfy the boy. That is, until something else caught his attention. A small bundle, the woman held tightly to her chest.

"Hey Kyu! What's with the flowers?" Naruto asked, pointing at the small bundle in her arms.

"O-oh, these?" Kyu asked. "I uh… I was going to take them somewhere today."

"Oh! Are you giving them to somebody?" Naruto asked.

"Well, not exactly." Kyu replied, a sadness creeping into her eyes.

Now, Naruto wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed… Oh who the hell am I kidding? He's like a pair of hedge clippers that were completely blunted. But even the small blonde could see the change in the red heads mood.

"Are… Those for someone's… grave?" Naruto guessed.

"Well, yes I suppose." Kyu nodded. Her red bangs bobbing up and down gently. "They're for a loved one… I was going to… Um, pay my respects."

"Oh…" Naruto said, simply not knowing what else to say.

"…"

"…"

"… Would you like to come with me?" Kyu asked. Her red eyes fixed intently on Naruto's.

"R-really?"

"I… would very much like some company. Do you mind." Kyu smiled softly. Yes, that was good, try and spend as much time with him as she could!

"Of course not!" Naruto replied quickly. He had nothing else tonight. And he couldn't find Iruka so there was no point in going to Ichiraku Rmen with so little money. And…

And to be perfectly honest, he just liked the idea of somebody wanting him around.

So the two set off; making their way outside the gate's of Konoha and into the large grassy fields.

* * *

When they finally stopped, they were at a spot bordering between the sea of tall grass and the thick forest beyond.

"So…" Naruto began. "Is this were your loved one is buried?" There were memorials and cemeteries inside the village for the placement of ninjas who had died, but it wasn't too uncommon for special cases to be made.

"No… To be honest, I don't really know where he's been buried." Kyu admitted. Setting the flowers down in small patch of grass. For the bodies of the Hokage's NOBODY knew where their remains were kept except for a very select few.

"So why here?" Naruto asked.

"Because this was where I first saw my husband." Kyu replied, a look of nostalgia across her face. A wisp of a smile gracing her ruby lips.

"Your… husband?" Naruto asked, Kyu simply nodded. "So he's…"

The redhead simply nodded again.

"I'm sorry." Naruto mumbled. "Was he a ninja?"

Kyu smiled and looked at Naruto. "Yes, he was. He was a very powerful ninja in fact."

"Really?" Naruto asked, his interest suddenly sparking. "How strong?"

"One of the strongest this village ever saw." Kyu replied, her red eyes drifting about as she recalled memories. "I can think of no one who ever defeated him."

"Wow." So she was married to a powerful ninja. This woman was so full of surprises! "What was he like?"

"He was…" Kyu thought. "Kind of like you a little bit."

"Me?" The red head nodded.

"Yes, he was very strong… But, he was also very gentle. He always saw the best in a situation. He never let anything defeat him, no matter how hard the problem was. Yes, he was very much like you."

"But you just met me." Said Naruto.

"Yes, but I've also heard a lot about you." Kyu explained.

"What! Who?"

"The Hokage, told me many nice things about you." Kyu answered.That wasn't a lie.

"You know the old man?" There she was again! Surprising him!

"Yes, he's an old friend of mine." Kyu said. "He married my husband and I."

"Cool." Naruto smiled.

"Though… My husband did have a few strange habits…" Kyu admitted.

"He did?"

"Yes… For one thing… He had the oddest obsession for ramen." Kyu smirked, thinking back on the blonde man's oddities.

"Ramen!" Naruto exclaimed. Kyu looked at him in surprise. "Ramen is the best food out there! My favorite is pork and beef! You're husband must have been a really cool guy!"

Kyu just sort of stared at him for a little bit. That same look of complete surprise spread across her face.

"Uh, is something the matter?" Naruto asked, bringing Kyu slightly out her trance.

"Sorry." Kyu muttered. "I was just wondering if people's personal habits could be passed along like blood lines…"

"Huh?"

"Oh, nothing." Kyu said, waving the subject off.

"So… Uh… How… How did he die?" Naruto finally asked. He was curious as to how such a powerful ninja could be killed.

"Fighting the Fox demon." Kyu replied simply. Her eyes fixed on that small patch of grass where she had set the flowers. She seemed to be drifting off into her own little world.

'Fighting the Demon Fox?' Naruto thought, his face tensing up. His hand moved to his stomach. 'So… It's… It's my fault her husband is dead.'

The young blonde felt absolutely horrible. Here was this wonderfully nice woman, who had been so kind to him, had worried about him when he had gotten in trouble, had opened up to him about her lost love one and…

And it was his fault her husband was dead.

Kyuubi, finally pulled her saddened gaze from the spot her late husband had sat so many times and looked at her son. She was shocked to find him with a looked o utter dread on his face.

"Naruto?" Kyuubi asked curiously, getting the young boys attention. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry." Naruto mumbled out as tears began to form in the corners of his eyes. "It was my fault…"

"What?" Kyuubi looked puzzled. She smiled at him reassuringly. "What was your fault?"

"You're husband died and it was my fault." Naruto's tear were beginning to fall down his wisker marked cheeks.

Kyuubi's face paled. "What are you-"

"I have the demon fox in me! It was my fault!" Naruto exclaimed. She was the first person he had told. He hadn't wanted to tell her… But she had been so kind to him! How could he lie?

He was about to turn and run, the guilt making him unable to bare being in her presence.

But before he could get away, the redhead, with remarkable speed had snatched the back of his orange jacket and held a firm on it. Bringing the young blonde to an immediate halt.

"What did you just say!" Kyu exclaimed.

Oh god… she was so angry… She knew now, and she was looked so angry. But… But she was right to be angry wasn't she?

"I… I have the demon fox inside of me…" Mumbled out, keeping himself as far away from the redhead as possible, while her hand still held onto him.

"Who…" Kyuubi growled out. "Told you, such and idiotic and stupid lie!"

"I-I" Naruto was stumbling with his words… Wait. What did she just say?

"What?" Naruto asked; his tear stained face screwed up in confusion.

"Who told you such a stupid lie!" Kyuubi repeated.

"Lie?" Naruto exclaimed.

"There's no demon inside you!" Kyuubi replied. Suddenly, it was becoming clear to Naruto, that the anger Kyu was projecting was not in fact directed at him, but at something else apparently.

"But… what about Mizuki said and the way all the villagers teacher me and-"

"That's because they don't know the truth themselves." Kyuubi explained, now appearing to calm down slightly. Taking a deep breath, she releasing her hold on her son and calmed herself. She didn't want to scare the poor boy.

"So…" Naruto began wearily. "They're no demon fox inside me?"

"No…" Answered, shaking her head. "Not exactly."

"Huh?"

Sighing, Kyuubi, sat herself down on a nearby log which looked to have toppled over quite some time ago. Patting the space next to her, she summoned Naruto to sit next to her.

Once the boy was at her side, the redhead let out a tired sigh and collected her thoughts before speaking.

"I told you that I know the Saindaime right?" Kyu asked, Naruto nodded numbly. "Then… then you'll understand how I know all this right?"

"I think so… The old man told you?" Naruto asked.

"Um… Yes." Kyu said hesitantly. Lyingto him felt so wrong… But she had to continue on anyways.

"The seal on your stomach." Kyuubi began.

"Yeah?" Naruto nodded, thinking back to the swirl shaped symbol on his stomach.

"The… Fourth Hokage designed that seal to act at a funnel." Kyuubi explained. "It was set up to use you as a medium to drain away all of the power from the demon fox that attacked the village twelve years ago.

"When the Fox's power was finally drained, it was possible to kill the monster and was."

"So… it was never sealed in me?" Naruto asked.

"Yes… The actual demon itself died." Kyuubi nodded. "But it's power… It's power still resides in you. That's why everyone thinks you are the demon fox."

"So… I have all the Demon's power inside me?" Naruto asked.

"Yes. Right here." Kyuubi explained, playfully poking him in the stomach.

"Hey!"

"Heh…"

"So…" Naruto began. "Everyone in the village has hated me… For something that isn't true?"

"Yes." Kyuubi nodded sadly. "I'm so sorry Naruto… I wish I could have…"

Could have what? Been there? Held him close? Protected him from the pain? Made sure someone loved him?

God yes! How she wished she could have.

The Redheaded woman, looked down at her son. For twelve years… TWELVE YEARS, he had suffered hatred and neglect… And for what? He had done nothing to deserve it. None of this was his fault…

No… It was hers. She had brought this upon everyone. Upon him.

And now, looking at her son, with his head held down, trembling. She felt tears coming to her eyes… She wanted to reach out and hold him close to her. Tell him everything was going to be alright.

She was about to do just that, when suddenly the blonde boy sprung up, with his fist raised high into the air. A look of determination spread across his whisker marked face.

"Well who cares if it's a lie or not!" Naruto shouted. "I could have a gateway to hell in my stomach and I wouldn't care!"

Kyuubi nearly fell back in shock. Where had THIS come from?

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I'm going to be the future Hokage! Whether or not I've got monsters in my guts, I'm going prove that I'm a great ninja and get everyone's respect!"

The way the boy shouted, it was almost as if he was announcing it to the whole world!

And maybe he was.

When Kyuubi looked into his eyes… They looked so… Determined, so confident, so much like… Arashi's.

'He's so strong…' Kyuubi thought in amazement. 'He has such an unbreakable determination…"

"I believe you." Kyuubi said, catching Naruto's attention again.

"You do?" The boy asked.

"Yes." Kyuubi smiled. "I know you're going to be a great ninja. I'm sure you'll prove it to everyone else too."

Naruto stared into Kyuubi's red eyes. After everything… After only just meeting her, after everything that had happened in this short period of time… Was she for real?

"Thanks Kyu-chan!" Naruto exclaimed happily. "Just wait and see!"

Kyuubi smiled at her son. She had no doubt that she would indeed see.

* * *

To all my readers: A friend of my mentioned to me the lack of Fanfictions with Iruka being paired with a woman. Now, I am not a fan of IrukaxKakashi, so when I find that almost any story involving this lovable chuunin is with THAT pairing. I find it a little depressing. Being how I actually like straight fics.

So… I bring you:

**IRUKA THE AMAZING CHUUNIN SIDE STORY!**

Back in Konoha, in a small sake shop in the southern section, an exhausted Chuunin sat at the bar.

Now normally, this particular ninja didn't drink quite often. Seeing as how it would be bad to go to class the next day to teach young children while fighting a hang over.

But there was only so much Umino Iruka could take.

Weren't things suppose to get easier now! With Naruto gone, the stresses of teaching should have died down, NOT GOTTEN WORSE!

Konohamaru… Even more Naruto than Naruto himself… Ugh… why God! WHY!

Just today, the brown haired boy had pulled five pranks, set one trash can on fire and turned another teacher's skin purple…

Iruka only hoped he wouldn't develop a drinking problem…

Slowly sipping his sake, the brown haired man was so lost in his thoughts he didn't notice two familiar figures enter the small shop and come up right behind him.

That is, until Iruka felt a powerful slap on his back which caused him to begin coughing.

"Iruka, what are you doing here?" Turning to face the speaker, the young Chuunin stared at the scruffy faced Asuma, mini-cigar in his mouth and all. To the bearded Jounin's left was the gray haired and masked face shinobi, Kakashi.

"Ah, Asuma… Kakashi … W-what are you two doing here?" Iruka asked nervously, turning around to face the two. He was always a little nervous around these two. Not only were they high level Jounins, but they were known to use the poor chuunin to their advantage when entertainment seemed to be scarce.

"Just getting a drink." Asuma shrugged. "After putting those kid's through their genin test, I could use a one."

"Ah, so those three passed then?" Iruka asked. It was good to hear his student's were doing well.

"Barely. Those kids have no motivation… Well, except Ino… She seems to keep the other two in line." The bearded shinobi shrugged.

"Heh, that sounds like them." Iruka chuckled. The chuunin then turned his attention to the famous copy nin.

"And I heard Naruto passed as well. I was a bit worried when I heard that you were testing them." Iruka remarked.

"How so?" Kakashi asked lazily. His little orange book suddenly in his hand and his eyes focus on his reading material. An occasional giggle could be heard coming from the man.

"Hee, hee… This is great stuff." Kakashi giggled.

"Well, out of all the groups you tested… None of them have ever passed." Iruka answered lamely.

"Oh yeah." Kakashi nodded absently. "Good group those three… If they can learn to work together they should be fine."

"I'm glad." Iruka smiled. And he was glad, he truly hoped that Naruto would indeed become a strong ninja and fulfill his dream.

"So what brings a guy like you here?." Kakashi asked, turning his only visible eye on Iruka. Come Come Paradise suddenly gone from his hands now.

"Heh… Uh, well It's been kind of stressful lately." Iruka admitted, scratching the back of his head as he smiled nervously.

"Really now?" Kakashi's one visible eyebrow plucked up in curiosity. "You'd think with Naruto gone, things would be easier now."

"Heh, so did I." Iruka chuckled. "But it looks like Naruto left behind a successor."

"Ah, Konohamaru." Asuma nodded. "I heard that he learned a few tricks from Naruto. It's been giving my uncle quite a headache."

"He's not the only one." Iruka sighed.

"So that's why you're here eh?" Kakashi asked as he pulled up a seat next to the Chuunin, Asuma did like-wise.

"Heh… Yeah, I just hope I don't make this a habit." Iruka chuckled nervously.

At this point, Kakashi was going to let it go and leave Iruka be, when something caught his eye. Looking towards a corner of the shop, a devious idea suddenly came to the gray haired Jounin.

It appeared as though this was one of those nights that the poor chuunin would be a tool for the two Jounin's amusement.

"Say Iruka?" Kakashi began.

"Hm?" Iruka looked over at the one eye ninja as he sipped his drink once again.

"Remember that game of cards we played a while back?"

Thinking for a moment, the young man did indeed recall playing a game of cards with Kakashi… He also recalled it going terribly out of his favor.

VERY out of his favor…

"Oh yes…" Iruka smiled nervously as he scratched the back of his head. "I'm really sorry; I guess I still don't have enough money to pay off the debt I owe…"

"That's okay." Kakashi replied with a smile. Well, what you could tell was a smile from his only visible eye. "I thought of a way for you to pay off your debt without another penny."

"R-really?" Iruka may have had a little bit to drink, but his judgment was far from impaired. The chuunin had a distinct feeling he was about to become a tool for the gray haired Jounin's entertainment... Again.

"Yes!" Kakashi said, smiling even more brightly. "If I do recall… you said, that if you could, you would be happy to pay off your debt in anyway you could."

Unfortunately, Iruka did recall saying such a thing… It was mostly because as a teacher, he only made a certain amount of money… and his debt from that card game EASILY exceeded his ability to pay it off with his meager salary…

He really should have thought more carefully before saying something like that.

"So…" Iruka began, with suddenly dry lips. "What do you want?"

So, Kakashi proceeded to lean in and whisper it into Iruka's ear.

Iruka blanched. He immediately turned his head to look at the corner of the sake shop and then back at the jounin.

"Are you kidding!" Iruka nearly yelled. "I'll be killed!"

"Really?" Kakashi said in disappointment. "How disappointing…"

"Well, I'm sorry. But it's just suicidal." Iruka sighed.

"Yes, well it is a disappointment." Kakashi nodded. "How will I ever tell Naruto that the man he looks up to most could go back on his word so easily?"

Iruka's eyes narrowed. Oh no…

"The kid will be heart broken." Kakashi sighed. "_'I will happily pay off my debt anyway that I can.'_" The Jounin quoted.

Sigh… I guess that was that then.

"Fine…" Iruka sighed in dejection. "What do I have to do again?"

* * *

Moments later, Iruka found himself slowly walking over to the dimly lit corner of the Sake Shop. Passing a few customers who were sitting around, enjoying their own beverages.

Looking, back, Iruka saw both Kakashi and Asuma watching him intently. Nope, there was no getting out of this…

And all of this just to prove to Naruto that a ninja keeps his word…

All too quickly, the poor chuunin found himself standing in front of a table situated in the shop's corner.

Reluctantly, Iruka cleared his throat.

Blinking, a young woman, with black hair, who had been minding her own drink, turned her head up to look at him. Almond shaped eyes blinking at him.

"Hey, you're… Iruka, right?" The woman asked. "Head teacher of the academy right?"

"Uh…. Y-yeah." He answered nervously.

"…"

"…"

"Is there something that you wanted?" the woman smirked, one eyebrow craned upward. "Or are you going to stand there like a lamp post?"

"Y-yes." Iruka replied. Turning his head back again to see the two jounins still watching him. They would know if he didn't do it. 'Well, now or never.'

"Ahem…" Turning back to the black haired woman, Iruka took one last gulp before speaking.

"I-if your right leg was c-Christmas, and your left l-leg was Easter… I, uh, I would like to visit between holidays." THERE! He said it! Placing his hands over his face in humiliation, the poor chuunin groaned in misery.

When he removed his hand to look at the woman, to his horror, he found her looking at him with a look of total shock.

"…"

"…"

The awkward moment of silence was finally broken when the woman stood up from her table rather abruptly and grabbed Iruka roughly by his flack jacket.

For his part, he was to paralyzed with fear to move. Faintly, Iruka thought he heard the sounds of two Jounins laughing.

Bringing herself to eye level with Iruka, Mitarashi Anko looked at the Chuunin with nothing less than murder in her eyes.

"Did you just say what I think you just said?" She growled out.

Iruka could do nothing more than nod his head dumbly.

"Behind the Sake Shop in one minute. You'd BETTER be there." Anko growled out, her teeth gritting together. It appeared that the woman had enough curtsey to spill his blood outside the shop than on its polished wooden floors.

When she let him go, the black haired woman quickly stomped out of the shop. Leaving the now pale white chuunin standing there, immobile.

"You know…" Kakashi voice floated over to Iruka's ear after a moment. "If you don't hurry, your one minute is going to be up."

Without a word, the brown haired young man, much like a robot on autopilot, slowly made his way out of the shop.

* * *

Gulping nervously, Iruka looked around the back alley of the sake shop. Anko was nowhere to be found. Which, to Iruka could be seen as either a good thing or a bad.

Thinking this to be his last moments alive, Umino Iruka suddenly wished he'd done more with his life. Tried for Jounin, learned to play the guitar, gotten that pet gold fish he always wanted, maybe find a nice girl to go out with and settle down and have a family…

And now all he had to show for his time on this world was Naruto's current state of education…

…OH GOD WAS THAT IT!

"Well, I must say, you really do have a pair for showing up." Eyes wide, Iruka turned around to see Anko standing in the middle of the alley.

"L-look, Uh, Anko, about what I said…" Iruka began, slowly inching away from the woman.

"Yes, about that." Suddenly Anko was right in front of him, holding onto his jacket once again. Her death glare staring him in the eye once more.

"In all my time, I never would have imagined YOU even daring to say something like that to me." Anko whispered harshly into his ear.

"I- uh." If Iruka even had had something to say, he wouldn't have been able to say it. For he was immediately cut off as Anko's lips suddenly crashed into his. The poor man's eyes nearly bugged out when she proceeded to wrap her arms around his neck as well.

They said like that for what seemed like an eternity in Iruka's opinion.

Finally, she pulled away.

"Who knew you could be so forward Iruka-kun?" Anko said sweetly, her arms still circled around his neck. Her head cocked to the side playfully.

"Huh?" Was all Iruka could say in his current state of shock. He was still alive?

Wait… hadn't she wanted to kill him! What was going on?

"W-wait…" Iruka mumbled. "You're not angry?"

"Well, I must say, I was quite surprised." Anko replied, her current demeanor now a near opposite of her previous one. She looked almost… Bashful! "I guess you're more of a man than I thought. I would have sworn you'd have gone running the second I left. I guess you're just a far braver man than I imagined."

"Uh, well… I just…" What could he say? That he'd been too terrified to actually run away?

"Come on Iruka-kun, let's go!" Anko smiled as she began to drag the young chuunin behind her.

"Huh? Where are we going?" He asked in confusion.

"Back to my place silly!" Anko giggled…. Seriously, what happened to the angry murderess from earlier?

"W-why?" Iruka was still too shocked to think. If he had, he would have easily figured it out himself.

"Silly!" Anko winked. Her smiled suddenly turned from sweet to seductively devious. "I'm going to show you how far Christmas and Easter can be spread apart."

So, the black haired woman quickly dragged the surprised chuunin(who was suddenly dealing with a severe nose bleed) out of sight of the small sake shop.

On top of the sake shop, two jounins, who had earlier been hiding up there while snickering to themselves, were now dead silent.

Kakashi's one visible eye was staring blankly at the spot where Iruka and Anko had been standing earlier. Asuma's mouth was hanging so far open that his cigar had fallen out.

"No… Way…" Asuma finally muttered, finally regaining some control of his thoughts.

"Huh… What do you know..." Kakashi stated lamely before pulling out his Come Come Paradise book and refocusing his attention on the important things in life.

"Hee, hee, hee…" The Jounin giggled.

* * *

That's right! Iruka actually got some action! **FROM A WOMAN**! I felt it was my personal duty to get this man a woman! The list of KakashixIruka fics is endless. He deserves some female loving! And Anko is just like my favorite female character in Naruto. Sorry to all you girls who like M/M slashing and all that… 


	5. Returning from Wave Country

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. But man… It would be so BADASS if I did…

This story is inspired by a series of 'Bitch Kyuubi' deviation artworks done by an Artist named 'Croaky.' I really liked the artwork and it inspired me to write this fic. I'd encourage you to check it out. There is a link to it in my profile.

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE 

I am REALLY sorry about the wait. But I've been busy with college and to be perfectly honest, I had to rewrite this whole chapter THREE TIMES just to get it right… Stupid Wave Country story arc…

Well, anyways, here ya go!

Chapter 5:

_"Naruto…" The words, nothing more than a whisper but it appeared that the blonde haired boy heard them anyway… Looking up to see a familiar pair of red eyes._

_"I have something I need to tell you." A woman spoke. She reached her arms out and gentle pulled the young boy to her. He complied happily._

_"Sure Kyu-chan! You can tell me anything!" The boy said happily. The woman, Kyu gave him a gentle smile in return._

_"I wanted to tell you this the moment I saw you… But I was afraid…" Kyu explained, her pale hands gently rubbing Naruto's back._

_"What is it Kyu-chan?" Naruto asked curiously, his eyes were closed as he enjoyed the warm embrace._

_"I'm… I'm your mother Naruto…" There! There! She finally did it! She told him!_

_"…"_

_To her surprise, Naruto suddenly pulled away from her. Kyu looked surprised as he stepped away from her._

_"Naruto?" Kyu asked questioningly. She made to go towards him, but froze when she saw his face._

_Tears… Tears streamed down his whisker marked cheeks. Tears flowing down hate filled eyes._

_"My… My mother?" The young boy growled out. Kyuubi was physically shocked. His eyes, his grinding teeth and his clenched fists, he looked absolutely furious._

_"Y-yes." Kyuubi stuttered. This was bad…_

_"Then where the hell have you been then?" His tone was that of barely controlled rage. His eyes, such a deep sapphire blue… Were suddenly becoming a bloody red._

_"I… I was… Unable to be with you." Was all Kyuubi could get out._

_"That's it!" Naruto exclaimed, his teeth becoming longer and sharper._

_"Naruto… I would have given anything to have been with you for all those years." Kyuubi pleaded, reaching out to her son desperately._

_"Well you weren't!" Naruto screamed. "I suffered all those years of being ignored, hated and unloved! That's all you have to say!"_

_"I… I…"_

_"IT'S TOO LATE NOW!" The voice no longer sounded like Naruto's. No… This was a different one… A terribly familiar one._

_"No…" Kyuubi whispered desperately. "No!"_

_Suddenly everything around the two of them was pitch-black. Nothing could be seen but the two of them._

_"I'VE FOUND YOU AT LAST!" The voice called out again. But it was no longer coming from Naruto._

_From the darkness emerged a pair of glowing red eyes, followed by a smiling mouth filled with razor sharp teeth._

_"I'VE FOUND YOU AT LAST BITCH!" The demonic face exclaimed, cackling menacingly. "YOU WILL BE MINE AGAIN!"_

_"No!" Kyuubi exclaimed, backing away from the demonic face. She tried to reach for Naruto and protect him from the dreaded creature._

_But to her horror, the blonde boy merely growled out and lashed out with his now clawed hands._

_"Ah!" Clutching her cut wrist, the redheaded woman backed away from the two, unsure of what to do._

_"Kyuubi." A hollowed voice came from behind her. Whirling around, the woman came face to face her with her husband._

_"Arashi!" Kyuubi exclaimed, rushing towards the blonde man. "I need your help!"_

_"Help you?" The man echoed coldly. When Kyuubi got closer to him, it suddenly became apparent that there was something wrong with the man. His flesh looked to be gray and… rotting._

_"Why should I help the bitch that got me killed." The man that had once been her husband spat out. "If it weren't for you, none of this would have happened."_

_"Arashi…" Kyuubi pleaded as she backed away from him._

_Suddenly, the fox woman found herself surrounded. Her dead husband, her estranged son, her ex-mate… All of them closed in on her._

_"All of our misery…" Arashi began._

_"Everything that has transpired." Naruto continued._

_"WAS YOU'RE DOING!" The Demon finished._

_With that, the three closed in on her.

* * *

_

"NO!" Kyuubi exclaimed, shooting up straight in her bed. Her entire body drenched in sweat. Her breathing was ragged as she slowly brought her trembling hand to her forehead.

"Just a dream…" She mumbled to herself. "Just a dream."

But it was such a horrible dream… Bringing to light all of her fears… and guilt.

Deep down, Kyuubi knew why she hadn't confessed to Naruto yet. Her ex-mate had killed so many ninjas and destroyed so many lives… It had even ruined her own son's chances of living a happy normal life… Well, as normal a life as a half fox demon can…

But because of her, because she had to be so selfish… thinking of only her wants… She had brought a horrible fate upon everyone. Killing her husband and destroying her son's happiness.

'I'm going to have to tell him.' Kyuubi thought as she looked out the small cracked window of her apartment. Sarutobi had offered to give her a much better place to stay, but the fox woman wanted something as small and out of the way as possible. Something that would not attract any attention to herself.

And in all honestly, this small one bedroom… shack was all the redhead felt she deserved, a millennia old fox demon or not. It served its purpose, that's all she needed of it.

'I hope Naruto is alright.' Kyuubi thought. A week ago, the young blonde had left with his team to perform an escort mission for some architect who was heading back to the Wave Country. It seemed simple enough…

But Kyuubi couldn't help but worry. Something felt… off.

'When he get's back… I'm going to have to explain some things to him.' Thought Kyuubi as she lay back down in her lumpy mattress.

* * *

"Ugh man, I can't wait until we can get home… I need some Ramen bad!" A short blonde haired boy groaned as he, and his teamed walked the familiar road back to Konoha.

"Well it's your own fault for not packing yourself more food for the return trip." Sakura scolded from her position behind the blonde, which 'coincidently' was also right next to Sasuke.

Sakura was worried about Sasuke, more so than usual. He had very nearly died on this mission… Heck for a time, everyone thought he had!

The Uchiha survivor himself had been very quite for the most part. Well, more so than usual. It was unsure to any of his team what exactly was going on in his head.

It might have had something to do with that final battle on the bridge… But… Who knew…

* * *

_Damn… were the nights always this cold in wave country? A raven haired boy let out a ragged breath as the cool night air swept over him._

_'Huh… Not a bad view…' The boy thought as he clung to the very top of one of the tallest trees in the forest. A Kunai sticking out of the top, right next to his head._

_It had been a lot of work, but he had finally mastered the tree climbing exercise that Kakashi had given then. There was a distinct sense of satisfaction as he looked at the grand horizon, illuminated by the soft glow of the moon._

_"Oye! Sasuke!" Turning his head to the left, the raven haired boy turned to look at his fellow teammate._

_His fellow teammate who was clinging to a tree just as tall as his. A foxy grin spread across his sweaty and dirt smudged face._

_"Great view huh?" The boy called out, mirroring the other boy's thoughts. Sasuke smirked, part of him was angry that this dead last idiot had learned the tree climbing technique as quickly as he had, the number one rookie of their class._

_But then… another part of him, a small part, was proud of him for that very same reason._

_Huh… weird…_

_"Wanna head back?" Sasuke called back, much of his energy drained. The blonde shinobi couldn't stop grinning._

_"Sure…" Naruto sighed with relief. That smile never once left his face the whole way back to Tazuna's house.

* * *

_

Sasuke's frown deepened… How did he do it? He was the dead last, wasn't he? How had he gotten so damn strong?... How had he defeated that Haku guy, when Sasuke himself nearly ended up dead? The boy continued to brood on the events of the mission as his Jounin instructor shot him a worried glance.

Kakashi had his book out as usual, though his attention was split more between his two male students than his little piece of dirty literature.

When the jounin turned his one available eye on Naruto, the jounin thought back to an earlier conversation that had left Kakashi perturbed.

* * *

_"Ugh… Fooooood." Moaned a familiar blonde haired boy, who was currently lying in a heap on the ground._

_"Honestly Naruto! You just ate!" Yelled Sakura who was currently standing over her idiotic teammate._

_The two Genin level ninjas were currently in the guestroom of the bridge architect Tzuna's house. Along with them, was their Jounin instructor Hetake Kakashi, who was currently minding his own business. Sasuke was nowhere to be seen._

_"Yeah, but I threw up most of it…" Naruto replied, his face firmly implanted in the floor._

_"That's because you and Sasuke-kun trained too hard and ate too fast at dinner." Sakura shot back. 'Poor Sasuke-kun…'_

_"Well, I need to eat something!" Naruto yelled. "I can't keep training if I don't have any food!"_

_"It's already dark out! Just get some sleep. You can eat when we have breakfast." Sakura yelled again at her teammate. 'Honestly, what an idiot…'_

_"Ugh… food…" But the plea went unanswered as the pink haired Kuinochi had already left._

_"Ah, don't worry Naruto." Soothed Kakashi, who was currently sitting up in his futon, reading as usual, Come Come Paradise. "Breakfast is only 10 hours away."_

_"Uuuuugggghhh…" Naruto groaned._

_"Didn't you pack any food rations with you?" Kakashi asked. His one visible eye squinting worriedly at his clumsiest student._

_"Rations?" Naruto asked… And then a light bulb went off. "Oh that right!"_

_Pulling energy seemingly out of nowhere. Naruto bounced off the floor and bee lined straight for his pack. "The cookies!"_

_"Hm? Cookies?" Kakashi's curiosity peaked as he tilted his head to see what Naruto was holding._

_Turning around, the energetic ninja produced a large back of what looked like chocolate chip cookies._

_"Hee hee! Dinner is served." Naruto exclaimed as he tore open the plastic bag and began to start stuffing cookies into his mouth._

_"Now Naruto…" Kakashi began, setting his book to the side. "You wouldn't happen to be a good little student and share those cookies with your dear old sensei would you?"_

_"Share… My cookies?" Naruto asked suspiciously. "… Nah, I think I'll keep them to myself."_

_"Sniff…" Kakashi looked about ready to cry. "Not even a single cookie from my favorite student?"_

_Tink! That got him._

_"Favorite student?" Naruto looked at Kakashi excitedly._

_"Well, at least I THOUGHT you were my favorite…" Kakashi shrugged._

_"Ah! Here! Have a cookie! Here! Have three!" Naruto exclaimed, dumping several cookies into his teacher's waiting hands._

_"Heh, heh…" Kakashi chuckled. 'Too easy.'_

_As the two ate their cookies Naruto stared in amazement at his teacher who had somehow managed to eat his cookies without ever taking off his mask._

_'Wow…' Naruto thought. 'That is so cool…'_

_"Mmh… Those are some good cookies." Kakashi nodded with satisfaction. "Where'd you get them Naruto?"_

_"Hee, hee! I got them from a friend!" Naruto gave a Foxy grin._

_"Ah, that's good." Kakshi nodded absently as he reached for his book again._

_"Yeah, Kyu-chan is the best!" Naruto continued on._

_"Yep, good o'l Kyu-chan." Kakashi nodded… and then froze. "Wait. Say that again."_

_"Huh?" Naruto looked at his teacher curiously._

_"What was your friend's name again?" Kakashi asked._

_"Huh? Oh you mean Kyu-chan? Yeah, she's really nice, and really pretty too. You'd like her."_

_Kakashi eyes narrowed suspiciously. 'It couldn't be her… She died twelve years ago… But I never did find a body…'_

_"Say Naruto. What exactly does this Kyu person look like?"_

_"Uh… Well… She's really pretty… She's got really white skin…" Naruto looked to be thinking about it. "Oh! She's got long red hair, red eyes and red marks on her cheeks like mine."_

_Okay… That description was way too accurate to be just a fluke. But that was impossible wasn't it? Kakashi couldn't be very sure right now. If… If Kyuubi was indeed back… Then had she come to claim her son?_

_But it seemed as though, Naruto didn't know very much about the woman… At least not the important facts._

_"So, Naruto… Can you tell me what you know about her?" Kakashi asked in a casual tone as he reached for his book once again. He had to make sure there wasn't a sense of panic._

_"Sure! Hey wait…" Naruto eyed the Jounin suspiciously. "You're not going hit on her or do anything perverted right?"_

_His response was a thrown shoe to his face._

_"Just tell me what you know about her." Kakashi sighed._

_After rubbing his face, Naruto saw no other reason not to explain his redheaded friend._

_So he did.

* * *

_

The information that Naruto had supplied had been on Kakashi's mind non-stop. If Kyuubi was back… Did the Hokage know? And if so why hadn't Kakashi been informed? Maybe the Hokage didn't know… If that true, what was Kyuubi up to? Was she just here for her son?

Was it tied to what happened to Naruto on the bridge? Kakashi shivered. The raw intensity of that chakra… it still bothered him. It had almost thrown his fight with Zabusa…

Kakashi was irritated. With all these questions swimming in his head but no answers for them, it just seemed to make the trip back to Konoha go by even longer, Come, Come Paradise or not.

And if to make the little circle of brooding complete, even team seven's ninja loudmouth was quiet for the most part… Aside from his belly aching.

Even Naruto had puzzling matters on his mind.

* * *

_No… How could this have happened! Laying in the blonde Ninja's arms was none other than his greatest rival Sasuke. Bamboo Needles stuck out all over his body and especially, much to Naruto's revulsion, through his neck._

_"This is the first time a comrade of yours has died isn't it?" A soft voice asked. Naruto only took a brief moment to notice that the masked ninja Haku had stepped out of his ice mirrors to view the scene. "Such is a Ninja's way."_

_"Shut up." Naruto growled, as he cradled Sasuke's body, tears streaming down his face._

_The rage inside of the blonde was building as he remembered the words that Sasuke had spoken._

_"I used to hate you, you know…"_

_'Why did he do it!' Naruto just couldn't understand. Sasuke… Had given his life for him…_

_"My body just moved on it's own…"_

_The Rage boiled now, Naruto felt as though he was going to explode. The flames of his anger needed a target…_

_And a target had provided itself._

_"You…" Naruto growled… It wasn't a human-like growl. No, this was the growl of animal._

_"What?" the masked nin muttered in shock. The leaf ninja before him seemed to be engulfed in blazing red chakra. But what was even more disturbing was the visage of the small ninja boy when he lifted his head up to look at Haku._

_"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" Naruto shouted his voice an unnaturally deep pitch._

_Instinctively, Haku jumped back into his ice mirrors for safety. Preparing himself to jump to the next mirror and make his attack._

_From Naruto's point of view, things seemed to be happening very differently than in the real world._

_After his initial burst of anger, a lot of Naruto's earlierl anger was burned up. Leaving him on a SLIGHTLY more rational level._

_So even now with a burning rage, Naruto was able to notice that something different was going on. His nails appeared to be razor sharp and elongated. Every muscle in his body felt energized with a new found strength._

_A strength that seemed to come in handy suddenly when the masked mist ninja jumped from his ice mirror to make his attack._

_Only, there was something strange about it._

_'That's weird.' Naruto thought as he watched the masked nin coming at him. 'He's moving so slowly… What's going on?'_

_But despite the strangeness of the situation, Naruto still took advantage of it. Reaching out, the blonde grabbed Haku's extended arm, and with seeming ease, flung him powerfully through one if the ice mirrors, shattering it completely._

_The mist nin stumbled to his feet quickly, just in time to get a brief glimpse of red animal eyes and a snarling mouth with fangs before a fist knocked him senselessly across the length of the bridge._

_Staggering once more to his feet, Haku watched in horror as burning red chakra enveloped around Naruto. Four tails of red chakra swaying behind him. His Red animalistic eyes burning into the mist ninja. The thin black whisker marks, on the boys face were now thick and red, looking rough and adding to the boy's savage appearance._

_There was something so unnatural about the chakra surround Naruto. It left Haku frozen in his place. He was so paralyzed that he hadn't even noticed that his mask had crumbled to his feet._

_But Naruto had.

* * *

_

Naruto shut his eyes tightly. He didn't want to think of the events that took place after that. Discovering that Haku had been that same girlish looking boy from the forest. Sacrificing himself for Zabusa, and finally, a guilt ridden Zabusa slaying Gatoh.

So much had happened on this SIMPLE escort mission. Luckily Sasuke was alright and soon the team would be back in Konoha now.

Naruto smiled. Soon he'd get to have Ramen with Iruka-sensei and see Kyu-chan again! Naruto frowned, maybe Iruka-sensei would know something about what happened to him on the bridge that day. He had already spoken with Kakashi about it, but the Jounin teacher had only stared at him for a long moment before finally saying that he'd talk to the Hokage about it.

Hey, maybe Kyu might know something about… She seemed to know a lot about the demon sealing… Maybe she would know what had happened.

Well, all it meant was that they'd just have to speed it up and get back to konoha sooner!

* * *

"My… That's quite a lot isn't it?" Remarked Kyu as she stared out into the slowly setting sun.

Team seven had arrived back in Konoha several hours ago. After unpacking, eating, and debriefing, everyone was allowed to go their own ways.

At first Naruto, had gone out looking for Iruka. But oddly, the chuunin couldn't be found for some reason. Usually Naruto could find him either at home, at the school, or out getting some Ramen. The young ninja was curious as to where he'd gone to…

But luckily in his wonderings, Naruto had run into Kyu. They had spent the last hour talking… Well, more like Naruto spent the hour regaling her about his big important mission.

Now, the two of them were back outside the walls again, looking at the setting sun. Sitting on the same log they had the last time they had gone out there.

"Yeah it is." Naruto nodded, very pleased to have someone to tell his adventures to.

"Are you alright?" Concern evident in the redhead's voice.

"Well… I just don't understand what happened on the bridge… Kakashi-sensei said he'd talk to the Hokage… but I was hoping you might know something." Naruto looked to Kyu face. Her attention was still on the sunset, but it was obvious she was thinking.

"I know what happened." Kyu sighed, closing her eyes.

"You do? Can you tell me what's going on?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"I will." Kyu nodded. "But Naruto… I… Need to tell you a story. It's a very important story. It'll help so that everything makes sense."

"Um, okay." The blonde cocked his head to the side curiously.

"I… actually should have told this to you a while ago." Kyu explained, shifting so she could better see him.

Taking a deep breath, Kyu began.

"Seven years ago…. There was a demon fox who lived in the forest right behind us. She had lived there for a very, very long time. While she lived there, she saw many happenings in the world, and many people who were apart of those happenings.

"But seventeen years ago, her eye was caught by a special human. He was a man who came to this very field to look upon the sky and the whole of Konoha. He was a very strong and kind man. She was very happy whenever he came to that field, so happy in fact, that after years, she had fallen in love with him."

"She did?" Naruto asked curiously. He had never heard a story quite like this before.

"Yes, eventually, she decided to show herself to him. She took the form of a woman and made herself known. In time, they fell madly in love with each other."

"I didn't know demon's could love." Naruto commented.

"Yes they can… But… There are also many demons who simply enjoy hurting others and killing, while others simply avoid human's and other demon's all together." Kyu explained.

"Wow… So what happened next?" The blonde asked excitedly. Kyu smiled at his energetic nature.

"Well… Eventually, the Third Hokage married them in secret. And the demon fox became pregnant."

Naruto's eyes widen in shock.

"But… That's where the happy part ends." Kyu explained sadly. "Long, long before the demon fox met her human mate… She had another demon fox for a mate."

"There were two of them?"

"Yes. But she grew tired of his love for suffering and killing and left him without another thought."

"Well that's good." Naruto nodded.

"No… It's not. The demon fox was so concerned about her own well being she never thought about the repercussions."

"Huh?"

"She didn't even think about what would happened if her old mate would come looking for her. And twelve years ago, he tracked her to this village."

Naruto felt a chill begin to run down his spine. This story was starting to sound a little too real.

"She's was well past her due date when her ex-mate attacked. And the demon was tearing through Konoha's defenses easily; there was little that could be done.

"So… In a last ditch effort… She, her husband, and the third worked tirelessly to make a plan to stop the demon. Which, they finally did. I told you how it was done right?"

Naruto nodded numbly.

"Labor was induced… and quickly. Her baby was born that very day and then… And then he was used in the plan to seal away the raging demon fox's power… Because he was half demon fox, and could channel both the human and demon parts of the sealing."

There was a long moment of silence. Kyu watched anxiously as Naruto processed all the information.

His eyes were clouded in confusion as he thought back onto what he was just told.

"So… You're saying… That my mother was a demon fox?" He asked uncertainly.

"Yes." Kyu nodded. "When sealing took place twelve years ago, so much of her own power was used up that she couldn't even keep together a corporeal form. It took nearly twelve years before she had enough strength to rise from her slumber and look for her child."

"… Y-you mean look… for me?" Naruto looked uncertain as he spoke. But the pieces were coming together in his mind. "And you said that her husband sealed the demons power in me… That was-"

"Yes. Uzumaki Arashi, the Fourth Hokage." Kyu explained.

"T-the Fourth was my father?" The poor boy looked like his mind was going to blow from all the information being given to him.

"Yes… And… And I am your mother." Yes! She finally said it! And now… what was he going to do? Was this going to be like her dream?

Naruto just stared at her, for such a normally loud person, he was being terribly quiet through all of this.

"What?" How could Naruto believe it? Was this really true? No! This was just some kind of trick! Just a horribly cruel dream!... It couldn't be real!

… It couldn't be…

"The Hokage will confirm everything that I've told you." The redhead stated. She just wanted to reach out right now and hold him… But what would he do? … Would he… hate her?

Naruto's head was bowed down. She couldn't make out his face, but she could see the tears falling to the ground. She couldn't take much more of this.

"Why…" Naruto began, his voice cracking as tears fell down his cheeks.

Kyu couldn't bear to look at him anymore, too filled with shame to do anything else.

"Why didn't you say something sooner?"

Eyes open wide, Kyu looked up to see her son staring at her, a pleading look in his eyes.

She couldn't take it anymore, she had to hold him.

And she did. Pulling him into her arms, she let the poor boy cry into her crimson kimono. Holding on to him… Just holding onto him as if HER life depended on it.

"Why didn't you say something?" Naruto repeated. Tears trailed down Kyu's eyes as well as she leaned her head on top of his.

"B-because… Even after thousands of years… I can still be an idiot!" Kyu cried as she held onto her son more tightly, tears streaming down her face as well.

They stayed like that all night.

Eventually Naruto fell asleep in her arms and the demon fox gently cradled her son's head in her lap the whole night.

And for the whole night, Kyuubi felt totally at peace.

* * *

And that concludes the end of chapter five. Once again, I am TERRIBLY sorry about the delay. But you try rewriting this much three times! Well, anyways, it looks like it's time for another episode of:

IRUKA THE AMAZING CHUUNIN SIDE STORY!

It was mid afternoon in the village of Konoha. The sun was shining, birds were chirping and this spectacular view was being enjoyed by certain black haired ninja from the Jounin's lounge area. Said, ninja was a beautiful young woman who was enjoying the view while popping dongos into her mouth.

The lounge was empty for the most part. The only other occupant had been a middle aged ninja would had left almost ten minutes ago, leaving Mitarashi Anko to enjoy her break in relative silence.

But that didn't last too long as the lounge door opened and stepped in several kuniochis stepped in, all who were chatting to themselves happily. When the noticed Anko sitting near the window, they paused for a moment before coming to take seats around her.

"Anko, how are you?" Smiled Kurenia as she sat next to Anko.

"Oh hey, Kerunia, I'm fine. How's it going?" Anko gave a short wave as she took her eyes from the window to look at the group of women situated around her.

"Fine, fine. Doing mostly Jounin instructor work now." Kurenia explained.

"Yeah, heard you got stuck with a teaching job now." Anko nodded.

"Speaking of teaching…" One of the other Kuniochi's, Suzume stepped in. "I've heard that you're dating Umino Iruka? Is that true?"

Anko, smirked at Suzume, who pushed her glasses back on her face.

"What if I am?"

The women looked at each other before turning back to Anko.

"Well… Why him? There must be much more… Interesting guys, right?" Kurenia asked.

"Well, sure maybe. But let me ask you a question, what are the options on good single guys?" Anko asked them with a knowing smirk.

"Well… What about Kakashi? I heard he's really cute under that mask. And he must really interesting!" A blonde Kuniochi offered.

"Doesn't he constantly read porn? In public?" One of the other girls stated, cringing at the thought.

"Yeah! And he's chronically late! I've never seen the man show up on time for anything in my life!" Another commented.

"What about… Asuma? He seems like a really nice guy." This time it was a brunette to Anko's left.

"Ew! He smells like an ash tray!" The blonde cringed.

"And besides that…(ahem) He's not available." Kurenia stated, frowning.

"How would you know?" The brunette asked.

"I just do!" Kurenia shot back.

"Um… Anyways… How about… Hayate?" This time it was Suzume.

"Heh, if Yuugao heard you even suggest that she'd cut you two." Anko laughed, thinking about the purpled haired Anbu.

"Oh yeah…" Suzume paled.

"Genma?" Anther girl offered.

"Er… tried that." Anko said cringing.

"Well, what about-"

"Enough!" Anko shouted. "Look, I like Iruka-kun! Get over it!"

There was a brief pause of silence...

"But… why?"

Anko blinked, and then looked at them. Sighing, Anko set herself up to explain.

"Look, if you think about all the guys in this village, who would YOU consider to be the nicest?" Anko asked.

"Um… Iruka?" One of the girls said hesitantly after a moment of thought.

"And who would you think would treat a woman with the PROPER respect she deserves?"

"Well, definitely Iruka." Suzume nodded. "He's always a gentleman to a lady, weather she's nine years old or ninety. Anko smirked, thinking back to the sake shop incident.

"And he's very good with children!" Another piped in. "He'd make a wonderful father."

"Best of all" The Brunette said. "I hear he can cook!"

"But would he be any good in the bedroom?" The blonde added. "He seems like he'd be clumsy in that department."

"Oh he was." Anko nodded. Closing her eyes and putting her hands behind head as she grinned evilly. "But after a week with me, I definitely fixed that!"

Many of the kunoichi looked at her with red faced surprise. While others like Kurenia and Suzume who knew her better simply shook their heads in embarrasement.

"So… In all accounts…" The Brunette began after a short pause. "Iruka is… the most eligible bachelor in Konoha?"

All the women, excluding Anko, blinked in surprised upon that sudden revelation. For a brief instance, the room was in complete silence and as they realized what a good prospect for a husband Iruka was… and much to their great disappointment, that he was-

"- All mine! Hahahahaha!" Anko laughed evilly, surprising everyone in the room as she stood up on her seat in a triumphant pose.

"Hee, hee! I can just see it now!" Anko squealed in delight. "Mr. and Mrs. Anko Mitarashi!"

As if on cue, a thought bubble seemed to appear over Anko's head as she imagined her future life.

_"Honey! I'm hoooome!" Anko called out as she walked through a door into her home. She was wearing what looked like a female business suite complete with a brief case._

_"Oh! Hi honey! How was your day?" A smiling Iruka asked as he came into the room, an apron adorned over his normal ninja wear. Oven mitts on his hands as he carried in a pot roast to the table._

_"Oh it was good, just a run of the mill assassination." Anko smiled as she set down her brief case._

_"Well you're just in time for dinner! Would you like to call the kids to the table?" Iruka smiled._

_"Oh kiiiids!" Anko cried._

_From out of another room, two little children, one looking like a five year old version of Anko and and the other a five year old version of Iruka ran into the room happily._

_"Yay! Mommy's home!" They squealed._

_"What a wonderful family." Anko sighed happily. The whole family grouped together smiling. Standing next to each other like they were about to take some kind of hallmark moment photo._

Back in reality, all the Kuniochi's stared at the day dreaming Anko with sweat drops.

"Just who's wearing the pants in that relationship?" Suzume asked.

"Well, I'd watch myself if I were you Anko." Kurenia smirked, pulling Anko out of her bizarre fantasy.

"Oh yeah? Why should I?"

"Because, while he may be the most eligible bachelor, you're not quite what I'd call the most eligible bachelorette." Kurenia grinned wickedly.

"Ha! And how could he turned down something like this?" Anko huffed as she pointed at herself (more accurately at her chest).

"Because of your personality." One of the Kuniochi's piped in. "You don't have anything the rest of us don't already have. And now that we know just what a great guy he is. We'll all be on the prowl."

There was a chorus of nods from all the women in the room, excluding Kurenia, which nobody noticed.

"Y-yeah, well fat chance! Just today, I sent a whole bunch of flowers to his classroom, just so he'd know that I appreciated him!"

"You did?" The blonde asked in surprised. That didn't seem very Anko-Like.

"Yep! I even went out and picked them all myself! Just try and beat that!" Anko laughed triumphantly. That's right, she was one step a head of the game now.

* * *

On the other side of Konoha, in the ninja academy, Iruka's class looked on in fascination at the variety of exotic looking flowers situated in a vase on the center of Iruka's desk. With a note attached saying: From Anko.

"Wow Sensei! Looks like you've got yourself an admirer!" Konohamaru laughed.

"Er yeah…" Iruka said as he eyes the flowers nervously.

"Um Sensei?" Another student, Moegi, raised her hand. "Do you know that all those flowers are poisonous?"

"Uh, Actually, yes I do…" Iruka sweat dropped.

"Wow, somebody must really hate sensei…" One of Iruka student's whispered to another.

"Yeah, if I was him, I'd stay the heck away from whatever girl sent those!" The other whispered back.

'Man…' Iruka thought, as he scratched his head nervously. 'I am getting some seriously mixed signals from that girl…'

* * *

Yeah, I definitely think I'm going to continue on with this side story thing. I kinda like it. 


	6. Cliff shouting and dinner dates!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. But man… It would be so BADASS if I did…

This story is inspired by a series of 'Bitch Kyuubi' deviation artworks done by an Artist named 'Croaky.' I really liked the artwork and it inspired me to write this fic. I'd encourage you to check it out. There is a link to it in my profile.

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE 

How this for updating soon? Heh, I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 6:

"Take a deep breath… hold it… Now let it out slowly."

Naruto did as he was told and exhaled the lung full of air he was holding.

"I don't see the point of this whole breathing thing? How is this going to help me?" Naruto asked irritably.

Sighing, Kyu opened her eyes to look at her son. Both were in the middle of forest clearing, sitting in front of each other in a meditative pose.

"Because you half Fox demon. As you get older, your powers are going to grow stronger now that they have emerged." Kyu explained calmly. "The point of this exercise is to make sure you are calm in both mind and body."

"But why? When I was on the bridge back in wave country, my demon power's activated when I was pissed off to high hell. Shouldn't I be figuring out how to get myself angry?"

"NO!" Kyu nearly screamed. "That is absolutely the worst way to summon that strength!"

Naruto nearly fell back from her outburst.

After Kyu originally revealed herself to be his mother, both she and Naruto had tried to spend more time together. But, there of course was an awkward tension between them now.

It was obviously different now that Naruto no longer saw her as just a random stranger he had met at the academy. She was now his mother. A mother he had never met until just a month ago.

How does one act in a situation like that? How do you treat a woman who suddenly turns out to be a mother you never knew? How do you act, when you've never had anybody who even came close to fitting that role?

Naruto of course had found it difficult at first. He didn't even know if should call her mother or not. It took nearly a week before he finally got up the nerve to call her 'mom.'

It still sounded awkward to the both of them, but Naruto refused to stop calling her that, even when she told him he could just call her Kyu if he felt more comfortable with it.

But to Naruto, that would be a complete step back from what he wanted. No matter how strange the situation seemed or how uncomfortable it might be around her at times, he absolutely refused to give up anything he had finally gained in the last month.

So, partly as a way to spend more quality time with her son, and so they could feel each other out, Kyu had begun to take her son out into the forest so they could practice on getting him to summon his demon fox side at will. This in itself was gravely important since his demon side had finally surfaced after twelve years. It was important they bring it under control.

"The point of this exercise is to make sure you NEVER summon your power through anger." Kyu explained sternly. "What do you think you could do with that power if you were enraged?"

"I uh… I hadn't thought of that." Naruto answered, not meeting her gaze.

"It's alright." Kyu replied calmly. "All of this must be very difficult for you to accept, but you must learn control. If you can summon your demon side in complete calm, you'll have all of that power without the haze of anger to cloud your judgment."

"I think I understand." Naruto nodded. "If I can summon my uh, 'demon side' I can use all of that power that I had at the bridge without doing something stupid with it."

Kyu smiled at her son's reiteration. He had a way of interpreting things that seemed very familiar to her.

"Yes, but not entirely. Do you remember that Chakra from when you transformed?"

"Yeah." Naruto nodded. "It was red and kinda reminded me of fire."

"That isn't your chakra." Kyu explained. "You have a naturally high amount of chakra on your own, stemming from both me and your father. That red chakra is the chakra of a pure demon fox."

"I-it is?" Naruto gaped.

"Yes. You're half demon fox, you can naturally summon chakra from the seal.

"Wait… you mean…" Naruto began.

"Yes. You have all of that Chakra stored in you from twelve years ago. With practice you should be able to summon it at will. But it's not naturally apart of your transformation." Kyu explained.

"So what does my transformation look like?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Let's find out." Kyu smiled, closing her eyes. Naruto followed her action and closed his.

"Focus your thoughts on transforming, you don't need to focus on what actually transforms itself, simply WILL yourself to transform." Kyu spoke softly.

'Focus… Transform…' Naruto scrunched his face in concentration as he tried to force his body to change. 'come on… Change…'

Luckily for Naruto, nobody saw the expression on his face. If they had, they might have thought the boy to be terribly constipated.

"Don't try so hard, you'll pull a muscle." Kyu laughed softly. "You need to relax. You're not making your body change. You're using your WILL to do it."

'Will… Okay, will…' Naruto thought, as he relaxed himself and tried again. 'I will change. I **WIILL** change… I am changing… I **AM **changing!' Naruto chanted in his mind.

After a moment of this, Naruto suddenly felt something. Opening his eyes in surprised, a sudden surge of strength and energy surged through the blonde's boy's body.

"Wha…" Naruto gasped as he looked down at his hands. Every muscle in his body felt… Incredible! He felt as if he could rip boulders out of the earth! Jump clear over high trees… Run faster than the wind could blow…

It was amazing!

After the initial shock died down, Naruto flexed his now claw like hands, and amazed as his body seemed to adapt to the new sensation of strength and settle out.

"Wow…" Naruto mumbled. "M-mom… I did it!"

Looking up to see his mother, Naruto was surprised to see that she had changed as well. Her red eyes appeared to more animal like now, her normal human ears were replace with those of a fox's and behind her nine fluffy red tails swayed gently behind her. She smiled proudly at her son.

"Wonderful Naruto, you've done very well." Kyu smiled happily, elongated fangs visible in her grinning mouth.

"Wha…" Naruto looked on at his mother in awe.

"Yes… This is the first time you've seen me in this form isn't it?" Kyu touched one of her fox years gently. "This is the bridge between my human form and my full fox form."

"So… Do that mean you can transform into a huge demon fox?" Naruto still had a look of awestruck.

"Well… I could. As I am now, I don't have enough strength to materialize into that form. A human form is all I can manage right now." Kyu explained.

"How long will it take for your strength to return?" Naruto asked.

"It returns to me everyday." Kyu answered. "But slowly."

"I see…"

Kyu smiled as her son looked thoughtful.

**Crack.**

Blinking, Kyu turned her head sharply to catch a glimpse of a figure hide itself behind a nearby tree.

"What was that?" Naruto asked curiously. Turning his head around to look in the direction of the noise.

"Just a mouse." Kyu said, waving it off. "You know, it's getting late now. Maybe you should go get something to eat. I bet that Iruka is getting himself some ramen right now."

Upon hearing the word ramen, Naruto's stomach immediately growled.

"Heh… That sounds like a good idea!" The blonde said as got to his feet. "Are you coming too?"

"No." Kyu shook her head. "I think I'll stay here for a little bit. You go on ahead."

"Okay!" Naruto was about to dash off, when suddenly Kyu grabbed his wrist. "Huh?"

Pulling a small mirror out of her obi, Kyu faced the mirror towards Naruto. "I don't think you should go out looking like that."

Looking into the mirror, Naruto gasped in surprised a he looked at himself. His eyes were just like his mothers, red and animalistic. Aside from his clawed hands, Naruto's whiskers marks had widened, looking rough and animalistic, but were still black, unlike the red color they had been on the bridge in Wave Country.

"COOL!" Naruto said excitedly. "I look so awesome!"

"Heh, I'm glad you like it, but I don't think it's going to go over well with the rest of the villagers." Kyu smiled.

"Oh yeah… Ah! How do I change back!" Naruto panicked.

"The same way you changed the first time." Kyu explained calmly.

"Oh, right…" Closing his eyes, Naruto began to focus. 'Change back… change back…'

When he opened his eyes again. Naruto found that his appearance had returned to normal again.

"Alright! I can't wait to start practicing this when I get home!" Naruto grinned happily.

"Just be careful Naruto." Kyu warned. "Now go get something to eat. You'll need your strength."

"Right. See you later… Uh, mom." Naruto replied somewhat awkwardly before running off.

Smiling to herself, Kyu let out a deep sigh. The Redheaded woman waited a woman until her son was out of sight.

"You can come out now. I know that you're there." The redhead called out, seemingly to no one in particular.

There was a small squeak from behind a tree, and ever so slowly, a small girl emerged, poking her index fingers together nervously.

"My, my… Somebody's seen quite a lot hasn't she?" Kyu had a feral grin on, the find a predator has when it's captured it's prey.

"I uh… I-I'm sorry… I d-didn't mean to- to-" The girl mumbled.

"Didn't mean to spy?" Kyu interrupted, the girl seemed to shrink into herself.

As the girl stepped forward, Kyu could get a good look at the girl now. She was short, maybe the same height as Naruto, if just an inch shorter. She had short black hair; she wore a large white jacket which the girl seemed to shrink herself into. Her face was fairly nice, not too pretty, but fairly cute, her most striking feature being her pearly white eyes. Where had Kyu seen eyes like that before?

"What's you're name?" Kyu asked the girl as she rose to her feet.

"H-hyuga H-hinata." The girl stammered. Her eyes firmly planted on Kyu's feet, not daring to go an inch higher.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you." The redhead commanded.

Gulping nervously, Hinata slowly brought her pearl white eyes up to look into Kyu's red animal ones.

"I know you've been spying on us for a while now." Kyu explained, as she stared sternly at the girl. "I also know you haven't told anyone about this."

Hinata brought her head back down in a mixture of embarrassment and shame.

"I want to know why." Kyu reached out with her finger, and titled Hinata's head back up to look at her.

"I… Uh… I-I-I…" The girl stuttered near uncontrollably.

"I'm not going to let you go until you tell me." Kyu stated firmly. Gulping, Hinata shifted her view away from Kyu as best she could.

"I-I was… I was watching Naruto-Kun… Just watching him." The small girl admitted, her face burning brightly with a deep blush.

Blinking, Kyu looked at the girl again. The nervous poking of her fingers… the incredibly red blush on her cheeks…

"Oh." The fox woman said as she let go of the poor girl. Suddenly understanding what was going on. "Ooooooh…"

Face flushed in embarrassment, the poor Hyuga girl couldn't bear the embarrassment any further and tried to make her escape.

But Kyu was too quick and snatched the girl's hood before she could get away.

"GURK!" Hinata choked as her feet went flying forward causing her to hit the hard ground on her back, with a loud thump.

"Oh… Sorry dear. Are you alright?" Kyu asked as she bent down to examine the coughing girl.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to c-cause trouble!" Hinita exclaimed rapidly as she brought herself to a sitting position.

"You just like to watch Naruto?" Kyu smirked. Hinata's face burned red again and her head bowed down in embarrassment.

"Aw, you have a crush on him!" The redhead's smirked turned into a genuine smile as she looked at the embarrassed girl.

"Um…" Hinata couldn't find words to explain herself.

"You said your name was Hyuga Hinata, right?" Kyu asked, helping the girl to her feat.

"Um, yes." Hinita nodded.

"I guess it's only fair that I introduce myself as well. My name is Kyu."

"N-naruto called you his mother." Hinata said nervously.

"Because I am." Kyu replied.

"O-oh…" If it was possible, Hinata looked even more frightened of the redhead now.

"Do you like my son?" Kyu asked.

"I uh…" Hinata stuttered. She REALLY didn't want to have this conversation, especially not with Naruto's MOTHER. "Yes." She finally mumbled out.

"How long has this been going on?" Kyu asked.

For the next half hour, Kyu prodded Hinata with questions and eventually got the whole story out of her, VERY much to Hinata dismay.

"So then why don't you just tell him that you like him?" Kyu asked curiously.

Hinita shrunk back into her coat again.

"I- I can't… He'd… He'd never like me… I mean… he has Sakura on his team! She's so much prettier than I am." Hinata explained crestfallen.

Kyu was saddened to hear the shy girls self doubt and wished she could do something about it. Naruto had little to no friends… And this girl seemed to be in a similar situation…

Then an idea struck the fox woman. Smiling briefly to herself before turning to Hinata.

"Hinata, I'd like to help you." Kyu smiled warmly at the girl.

"W-what?" Hinata looked up in surprise at the redheaded woman.

"Here, listen carefully to what I have to say…"

"Here we are." Kyu stated as the two of them arrived in front of a familiar ramen stand. "Do you remember what to do?"

Without a word, Hinata nodded, her hands fidgeting nervously.

"Well, then go." Kyu said, prodding Hinata forward.

The Fox woman watched in amusement as Hinata slowly walked into the ramen stand and took up the seat next to Naruto.

'I used to love doing this sort of thing.' Kyu thought amusedly, thinking back to all the little romantic incidents she had instigated over hundreds of years. 'He doesn't have to fall in love with her… Just give him a friend please!'

"H-hi N-naruto-kun." Hinata stuttered, as she sat next to Naruto.

The blonde ninja blinked and turned to face the shy girl, slurping up the last of his noodles in the process.

"Oh, hey…" Naruto paused for a moment to think… 'uuh… Um… What's her name again? … Oh! That's right. "How are you doing… Hinata!"

"G-good." Hinata smiled shyly. "How are you?"

"I'm okay. I was kinda hoping to run into Iruka-sensei, but I couldn't find him. It's weird. I've hardly seen him lately and when I do he's always got this weird goofy grin on his face for some reason…"

"O-oh." Hinata nodded. "S-so you just finished eating?"

"Yeah, I guess I'll head out now…"

"W-where to?" Hinata asked hurriedly. She had gone to all the trouble of building up the courage to do this now, she couldn't just let it end now.

"Well uh…" Naruto paused to think about whether or not he should tell her. Then he looked at her suspiciously. "Why do you want to know?"

Hinata shrank a little bit under his suspicious look.

"I-I… was just curious… A-about you." Hinata stuttered, blushing furiously.

Naruto blinked, and then grinned widely.

"Heh, really? I must be really interesting huh?" The blonde asked with soaring pride.

"Y-yeah." Hinata admitted, smiling faintly when she saw how Naruto had gotten so excited.

"Weeeeell… I guess I can show you!" Naruto grinned.

After the blonde slapped down several bills on the counter, he grabbed a hold of Hinata's hand much to her surprise, lead her outside to into the slowly setting sun.

A block away, Kyu smiled as she watch the two of them run off.

Hinata panted slightly as she tried to keep up with the excited blonde. They had been running for several minutes now, climbing up a steep rocky slope.

As they continued on their hike, Hinata's mind drifted briefly back to an earlier conversation with Kyu.

* * *

_"You know… The Autumn Festival is coming up soon." Kyu smirked. Hinata stumbled slightly as they walked back into Konoha._

_"Uh, yes… it is." Hinata nodded._

_"Maybe you should ask him to the festival." The Redhead suggested._

_"W-what?" Hinata looked shocked. "I-I couldn't… I mean… He would never…"_

_"Why wouldn't he?" Kyu asked._

_Hinatat paused… She knew the Fox Lady wouldn't approve of her answer… 'I'm not good enough.' She thought._

_"See? You don't have a reason." Kyu smiled. "Just ask him. I'm almost positive he'd say yes."_

_"Y-you are?" Hinata didn't sound like she believed the older woman._

_"Don't know until you try." Kyu shrugged, a knowing smirk adoring her face.

* * *

_

'Sigh… I wish I could ask him…' Hinata thought as the blonde ninja continued to drag her up a steep climb.

When they finally reached their destination, Hinata was surprised to find that they were standing directly on top of the Hokage Monument.

"W-why are we here?" Hinata looked puzzled. As the shy girl scanned the area, she took note of the fact that the sun had finished setting and the stars were now starting to come out.

"This is a secret place I like to come to sometimes." Naruto explained as he walked toward the edge of the cliff side, standing directly on top of the First Hokage's stone head.

"Really? Why?" Hinata asked.

"Because…" Naruto grinned broadly. "I can do this!"

"RAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The boy yelled at the top of his lungs, causing Hinata to jump back in surprise.

"N-naruto!" Hinata looked at the blonde in surprise, a faint echo of Naruto's yell drifting around.

"Isn't it awesome? You can be as loud as you want! And when you're up here, It's like your yelling to the whole village!" The blonde explained excitedly.

"R-really?" Hinata craned her head to peer over the edge slightly.

"Yeah! Come on over here!" Naruto beckoned Hinata to his side. Hesitantly, the girl complied, standing next to the blonde on the edge of the First's head.

"Come on Hinata! Give it a shot! It's fun."

"N-no… I-I couldn't." Hinata shook her head, her face red with embarrassment.

"Sure you can! Come on Hinata, you're always so quiet! Just take a deep breath and give a good shot!" The blonde beamed at her.

"I… Uh… Well, okay." Hinata finally gave in; taking the same spot Naruto had just a moment ago.

She took a deep breath and looked over the edge, seeing just how REALLY far down it was.

"You can do it Hinata! Just let it out." Naruto encouraged.

Hinata took another deep breath.

"IIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" The pale faced girl screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Ha! That was great!" Naruto laughed.

"W-wow…" Hinata breathed. "That…. That felt good."

"I know… I love doing that." Naruto nodded. "But there's one thing I like to do even more."

"What's that?" Hinata asked curiously as she watched the blonde take his original spot on the stone head. "You know how it feels like you can call out to the whole world from here?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I like to do this A LOT!" Naruto inhaled deeply and then shouted: "HEEEEY! MY NAME IS UZUMAKI NARUTO! AND I'M GONNA BE THE NEXT HOKAGE!"

Hinata watched in awe at his performance.

"Pretty cool huh?" Naruto grinned.

"Y-yeah…"

"Now you do it!" Naruto smiled as he pulled Hinata in front of him.

"What? N-no! I couldn't… I don't know what to say…" Hinata blushed.

"Say what's on your mind! Tell them all who you are and what you want! It feels great!"

"I…" Hinata paused and then looked down upon the great whole of Konoha. "…Okay."

"Yeah! Alright Hinata!" Naruto cheered. Hinata smiled and took a deep breath.

"M-my name… M-MY NAME IS HYUGA HINATA!" The girl shouted. "AND I WILL BECOME A STRONG NINJA! NO MATTER WHAT, I WON'T GIVE UP!"

"Yeah! Go Hinata!" Naruto Cheered.

"A-AND I'M NOT GOING TO LET ANYONE TELL ME I'M NOT GOOD ENOUGH!"

Hinata was on a role now; This felt so great! She couldn't stop herself if she wanted to now.

"AND I WILL GO THE AUTUMN FESTIVAL WITH NARUTO-KUN!"

"Yeah!" Naruto yelled. "… Wait, what?"

Hinata instantly froze…Oh no… She hadn't done that… Please, please… she really hadn't done that…

"Uh… I… Um…" Hinata stammered.

"D-did you say just say… you wanted to go to the autumn festival… W-with me?" The blonde looked at Hinata in confused surprise.

"Um… Well…" Hinata sighed, she had already gone this far… "Y-yes. I do."

"Wow… Really?" Naruto looked awe struck at the thought that there was somebody who actually wanted to the Festival… WITH HIM!

"I-I know you might not want to go…" Hinata looked downcast.

"What? Why wouldn't I?" Naruto looked confused.

"Wha… I mean… Y-you'd go with me?" Hinata spirit began to soar.

"Heck yeah!" Naruto grinned. "I've never gone to the Autumn festival before! This is going to be great!"

"I um…" Hinata was speechless.

"You know something Hinata?" Naruto asked, grinning at her happily.

"W-what?"

"I first… I thought you were just a dark, plain weirdo." Naruto's grin didn't falter. But Hinata looked some-what disconcerted. "But now… I definitely know you're totally awesome!"

Hinata's face burned bright red with that complement. "T-thanks…"

Hinata had never felt this good in a long time. With all of her difficulties as a ninja, her team mates, and her family… Having the person you admire most tell you, you were totally awesome… That's one heck of a pick-me-up.

"Hey Hinata?" Naruto caught her attention again, and she looked to see the blonde scratching his head in embarrassment. "Just… uh, what exactly do you wear to an Autumn Festival?"

Hinata giggled.

"Well…" She began…

Well, that's the end of the regular part of our chapter. Now on to what many people consider to be the… uh, better part of this fic…. I guess…

IRUKA THE AMAZING CHUUNIN SIDE STORY!

"Wow… I have to say… You're looking really lovely tonight." Iruka smiled brightly as he held out a seat for his date. Grinning, Anko took the offered seat and wait for Iruka to take the seat across from her.

"Aw, Iruka, you sweet talker you." Anko winked at him. "Thanks, it took me forever to get my hair fixed up right."

The two ninjas were currently sitting in the middle of a somewhat fancy looking restaurant. Their table was near a window which gave them an excellent view of the setting sun.

"Well it looks really nice." Iruka said as he took in Anko's form. For their date, Anko had let her hair down, which fell down just above her shoulder blades. She wore a long black dress, with a lengthy slit down the side to reveal her legs.

"Well, you're looking pretty sharp there yourself." Anko smirked. Indeed, Iruka was dressed in a crisp brown suite and tie. His hair was the same, only he had taken his head protector off.

"Thanks, I was afraid I wouldn't have time to get ready for this. I had to stay late after school to give Konohamaru detention." Iruka sighed.

"Heh, kids giving you trouble?" Anko laughed.

"Well, mostly him really. I swear, he's like a shorter brown haired version of Naruto. Heh… I know it may sound strange, but… Well… Having him in my class is actually kind of a relief really."

"A relief?" One of Anko's eyebrows quirked up as she looked at him.

"Yeah, I know it's weird, but after all the time I've spent with Naruto… I guess I've just grown accustom to his loud, overly energetic, boisterous personality and the little jokes and pranks he plays…"

"That's a little odd."

"Well..." Iruka scratched his head, "I guess I just naturally feel more at ease with loud, boisterous and obnoxious people."

"Really?" There was definitely a dangerous look in Anko's eye now. "You seem pretty at ease right now…"

"B-but of course, it's nice to get away from that a-and enjoy the company of a beautiful, interesting, and most of all MATURE woman." Iruka stammered out quickly. Instantly Anko's suspicious look disappeared, replace with a pleased smile.

"Heh, well sometimes it's good to get away from all those loud and obnoxious kids every now and then." Anko shrugged.

"Well, I guess." Iruka chuckled, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Yep… HEY WAITER! WHAT'S TAKING YOU SO LONG!" Anko shouted at one of the food servers who was attending to other costumers on the other side of the restaurant.

'Yeah…' Iruka thought sarcastically. 'I got away from all the yelling and obnoxiousness.'

"Y-yes Ma'am?" The waiter replied nervously.

"'Bout time." Anko muttered. "I'm gonna have the chicken. How about you?"

"Oh, Um, I think I'll have the shrimp Ramen." Iruka replied as he handed the waiter his menu.

"Ramen? You can get that anywhere." The black haired woman pointed out.

"What can I say?" Iruka shrugged. "I like it."

"Well, that' fine I guess." Anko shrugged. "People tell me I have an unhealthy obsession with Dangos."

"Heh, I heard…" Iruka chuckled.

For a short while, the two sat in relative silence, unsure of a topic of conversation to chose. Finally, Anko decided to ask something that had been on her mind for a while now.

"Hey Iruka?"

"Hm?" The Chuunin looked up from the spoon he was inspecting to catch her eye.

"You and that Fo-… Um, Uzumaki kid are pretty close aren't you?" Anko asked.

"Yeah. Heh, You can't help but love the little guy. He's good kid… Uh, despite what he did to the Hokage monument…"

"Heh, actually I'm impressed! That took some serious guts! It was pretty funny seeing swirl marks on the fourths cheeks!" Anko laughed.

"Yeah… Well he got his punishment for that." Iruka Chuckled. "But… I guess part of why were so close is… He reminds me a lot of myself."

"You?" Anko looked surprised.

"Yeah." Iruka scratched the back of his head. "We were both class clowns when we were in the academy."

"YOU were a class clown?" Anko looked surprised, but amused as well. "I can't believe it!"

"Well… Both naruto and I did it for the same reason's too." Iruka admitted.

"You did?" The black clad woman looked somewhat puzzled.

"Well… Neither of us had any family after the Kyuubi attack… When I was in the academy… I just wanted someone to acknowledge me… By being a goofball… I was sort of getting the attention I was looking for."

"And Naruto did the same thing." Anko nodded understandingly. "He never had any family to begin with… and him being… Uh, who he is… It must have been in more difficult."

"Yeah, it was. All those pranks, everything he'd done… he really just wanted somebody to pay attention to him. To care about him."

Anko looked away sadly. She had never really given much thought to the little blonde ninja before. She really didn't have anything against the kid really, but she had never made any effort to be nice to the boy either.

"It kinda makes me wish I'd done more for the kid." Anko looked at the window sadly. "It couldn't have been easy."

"Yeah… But he's doing better now." Iruka smiled, trying to lighten the situation up again. "You'd be amazed if you saw him, he's got a will stronger than anything I've ever seen. He'll be dead and buried in the ground before he ever gives up on anything."

"You really love working with those kids don't you?" Anko smiled.

"Yeah… Originally, it was just supposed to be temporary until I could get enough experience to try for Jounin." Iruka explained.

"You were going to go for Jounin?" Anko looked somewhat surprised.

"Yeah… But I grew too attached to the academy, and if I became a Jounin, I wouldn't be able to teach there anymore." Iruka shrugged. "I don't have any regrets. I like job."

"That's nice." Anko nodded. "Sometimes I've thought about taking up a Jounin instructor job."

"Really?" Iruka eyebrow's perked.

"Yeah, but I'd probably end up screwing whatever kids I get up ROYALLY. Better to play it safe and stick to good 'ol Jounin missions." Anko laughed.

"Heh… I guess." Iruka chuckled nervously.

"_Heeey… name is Uzuzmaki Nar… And I'm… Hokage_." Iruka blinked… That sounded just like Naruto…But it was very faint…

"Did you just hear something?" Iruka as, looking around the restaurant for blonde hair. His eye occasionally going towards the window to look at the now darkened village.

"Hear what?" Anko looked at him confused.

"I could have sworn I just heard Naruto…"

"Nope, didn't hear a thing." The black haired woman shrugged.

"Weird…" Iruka scratched his head.

"Your dinner is served." The waiter announced as he returned with several dished in his hands.

"Thank you." Iruka smiled as a bowl of shrimp ramen was placed in front of him.

_"… become a strong ninja… what, I won't give..._" There it was again! Another faint voice… But this one sounded more feminine…

"Did you hear that?" Iruka turned to look at Anko.

"Yeah I did!" Anko nodded. Iruka was relieved that he wasn't just hearing things. "That waiter was totally hitting on me! Right in the middle of our date too!"

Iruka sweat dropped.

"The nerve…" Anko muttered. "Well, he's not getting a tip."

"Um, right." Iruka nodded…

" _…Go to the Autumn Festival with…_" Iruka looked around, where was that coming from!

"Go to the Autumn Festival?" Anko gasped. "Oh Iruka! I was wonderingif you were going to ask!"

"Huh?" Iruka stared at his date. 'THAT she heard?'

"Hmmm… I'm gonna have to get a new kimono…" Anko thought out loud. 'And maybe some new lingerie too…'

"Well, I heh, guess I forgot about the festival…" Iruka admitted nervously.

"Heh… I haven't been to that thing in years!" Anko looked excited. "I was kinda banned from going when I was fifteen because I spiked every single drink at the festival."

"That was you!" Iruka looked shocked. He remembered that year. He had been really thirsty and had drunken a lot… When he had woken up he was naked, tied up, covered in body paint, and on top of the Hokage's monument.

He hadn't dared attend the festival since…

"Yeah… In fact… I never told anyone this… But when I was there, there was this one guy there that was so drunk… I dragged him up to the Hokage's monument, stripped him naked-"

"Tied him up and left him there" Iruka finished for her, his left eye twitching slightly.

"Yeah! How did you kno-" Anko froze. "Uh oh…"

Iruka's eye continued to twitch.

"Oh come on… We were young… I mean… You can't blame me for something that happened almost ten years ago right?..." Iruka just stared at her lamely.

Iruka sighed. "I've never been good at holding grudges anyways…"

"Great!" Anko smiled. "I wonder what kind of changes they've made to the festival…"

So for the rest of their date, everything went by without incident. By the end, Iruka had his wallet out to pay the bill.

"Oh no Iruka, I'll take care of this." Anko winked.

"But-" Iruka was about to protest but Anko cut him off.

"Nah, you've done plenty already. Besides… Think of this as pay back for the festival." The black haired woman winked.

"Well…" Iruka didn't look quite sure.

"You just wait outside; I'll take care of everything." Anko assured him as she nudged him out the door.

Sighing, Iruka did as he was told and waiting outside the door of the building.

'Well, that was kind of nice of her I guess.' Iruka thought. 'Heh, she really isn't your traditional girl is she? That's actually pretty nice…'

A few minutes later, Iruka was supsired to see Anko burst out of the door in a panic. Grabbing him by his jacket, the kuniochi yanked him away in a mad run.

"What the heck happened?" Iruka exclaimed.

"Well, when you left….(huff) I forgot that I didn't have enough money in (huff) my purse." Anko explained. "So I (huff) tried to flirt my way out of it!"

"What!" Iruka exclaimed, now on his own feat again and running after her.

"That didn't go quite(huff) as well as I'd (huff) hoped!" Anko explained. "So I dashed!"

"Why didn't (huff) you get me to (huff) pay!" Iruka exclaimed.

"And (huff) suffer the embarrassment!" Anko looked appalled at the thought.

"And this (huff) is better?" Iruka gasped out. They'd run quite a distance now.

"Of course (huff) not!" Anko grinned wildly. "This is fun!"

"Of (huff) course…" If Iruka hadn't already been sweating, he probably would have had a sweat drop then.

The two of them had run for about another five minutes before ending up in front of Anko's apartment building. From there, the black clad woman, dragged an out of breath Chuunin up to her apartment room.

'Well… There are definitely worse ends to a night.' Iruka reasoned, unable to keep the smile off his face.

* * *

Well that's the end of this chapter. I hope everything was to all of your enjoyment. After the little Festival story… Which might not take up too much of the next chapter. It'll be on to everyone's favorite part. The Chuunin examine! 


	7. The Autumn Festival

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. But man… It would be so BADASS if I did…

This story is inspired by a series of 'Bitch Kyuubi' deviation artworks done by an Artist named 'Croaky.' I really liked the artwork and it inspired me to write this fic. I'd encourage you to check it out. There is a link to it in my profile.

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE 

Hey everyone! I'm back again! Have fun!

Chapter 7:

* * *

Haruno Sakura was not a happy camper. 'Why?' you may ask was this pink haired Kuniochi upset? On all days the Autumn Festival? A time were she would not have to perform ninja duties, train, and in fact get to dress up and have fun?

Why on earth could she possibly be upset?

Simple, because Uchiha Sasuke hadn't come.

Surprise, surprise….

That said, you could imagine that the majority of the young ladies attending the festival were noticeably disappointed as well.

Returning to the sulking pink haired girl, Sakura for the most part had contented herself to sitting miserably at one of the tables near the main dance floor. She had been looking forward to this so much… She had been SURE Sasuke would have gone with her… I mean… They were on the same team right! That meant something… didn't it?

Well, at least Sakura could take satisfaction in the fact that Ino didn't get to go with him either. Heh, that stupid blonde pig…

Still… It didn't make things much better…. Heck, even Naruto had a date!

Poor Hinata, that jerk must have tricked her into it some how. Why on earth would such a nice, quiet, and shy girl want to come to the festival with a loud, obnoxious and stupid jerk like him?

Well… Hmmm… Maybe that was being a little unfair to Naruto, Sakura admitted. Sure he was loud and definitely annoying at times, but he had a lot of good qualities too.

Like the fact that no matter what, Naruto didn't give up. Not even during their tree climbing, when he couldn't even get off the ground, he didn't stop trying. Sakura was surprised too when he had asked for her help instead of having a tantrum like she thought he would have.

Maybe the blonde shinobi was growing up a little. He wasn't nearly half as incompetent as when Team 7 first began. He seemed to have made a lot of progress since their mission to Wave country. And that Kage Bunshin technique was pretty cool… Sakura herself could only perform the regular illusionary bushin.

Now if only she could have made that kind of progress. Sakura wasn't full of herself, even though she knew she had outstanding chakra control, it was pretty useless without, muscle and techniques to back it up. Both of which the young girl felt she was sorely lacking.

Sakura sighed, at this rate; it would be her dragging Team 7 behind instead of Naruto… If she wasn't doing so already.

Sakura was the last Haruno to be a ninja since her grandmother. There wasn't much to live up to though, but there wasn't much to bring to the table either. The Hurano family didn't have any special techniques or cool blood lines… Aside from pink hair… Which, when you're a male Haruno is actually kind of embarrassing… Especially when you're showering in a gym… REALLY embarrassing…

'When this is over… I'm really going to have to start looking into finding something I'm good at as a ninja… Maybe I could be come a Genjutsu Master like that other instructor, Kurenai.' Sakura thought. 'What else if perfect chakra control good for?'

Looking around the dance hall, Sakura let out a disappointed sigh. 'Maybe I should leave… There isn't much for me here to do…'

"Hey Sakura!" Blinking, the pink haired girl turned in her seat to see a brightly smiling Naruto in a (surprise, surprise) orange Kimono leading Hinata by the hand right to her table. "What are you doing sitting here by yourself?"

"Oh, um… I was just resting… Heh, heh…" Sakura laughed nervously.

"Yeah, I know what you mean, Hinata and I just got off the dance floor. It was really fun; Hinata even taught me how to dance!" Naruto explained excitedly. "It was fun! She's a really good teacher!"

"T-thanks Naruto-kun…" Hinata blushed profusely at the blonde's complement.

"You two must really be having a good time." Sakura smiled weakly. "I wouldn't want to interrupt your fun…"

With that, Sakura got up to leave. But before she could go, her blonde teammate grabbed her shoulder.

"Ah, come on Sakura! We saw you sitting here by yourself this whole time! Come and have some fun with us!" Naruto exclaimed happily. "You can't leave after sulking here all night! Right Hinata?"

"R-right." The shy girl nodded her head meekly. "I-I've had a lot of fun with Naruto-kun tonight. You should come with us."

"Well…" Sakura thought about it and realized there really wasn't any real reason to not join them. It'd be a heck of a lot better than sitting around pouting like a seven-year-old. "Alright! What do you want to do?"

Naruto grinned from ear to ear.

"Something that I've wanted to try since we got here!" The blonde explained excitedly. Grabbing both Sakura and Hinata's hands, he led them back into the center of the dance floor.

"What are we doing Naruto?" Sakura had a confused look, the blonde just stood there wait.

"We have to wait for the song to finish." Naruto explained. "…Ah! There we go!"

"What are you doing Naruto?" Hinata asked worriedly.

"This." Naruto grinned as he cupped his hands around his mouth.

"NINJA CONGA LINE!"

Dead silence…

"You… Idiot…" Sakura Whispered through clenched teeth.

But before the pink haired girl could get her hands around Naruto's neck…

Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun DA!

Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun DA!

The entire dance floor erupted into cheers!

"No way…" Sakura gaped as a conga line began to form on the dance floor.

"Awesome! I didn't really think that would work!" Naruto exclaimed gleefully, Sakura sweat dropped. "Come on! Let's join in!"

* * *

On the other side of the dance hall, the Hokage watched in amusement as Naruto dragged both Sakura and Hinata into the ever growing conga line.

"Heh, I haven't seen anybody start a ninja conga line at the festival since… Ha! Jiraiya did it!" Sarutobi laughed.

"I heard about that. Arashi said Jiraiya would do anything to get his hands near a woman's butt." Turning around, the aging ninja smiled as he saw Kyu come up to stand next to him.

"Ah, I was curious to see if you'd show up or not." Sarutobi smiled.

"Well, when I heard that Naruto was coming I thought I'd take a look." The redhead smiled.

"Ah, yes. I believe this is the first time he's ever attend this festival." Sarutobi nodded.

"Yes, I wonder why…" Kyu thought out loud.

"Hard to say, without anyone to come with him, I suppose he simply didn't know what to do." The elder ninja guessed. "It was very nice of Hinata to come with him."

"Yes. I was very glad she asked him." Kyu nodded. "Naruto needs friends and she seemed more than willing."

"You haven't been meddling have you?" Sarutobi cocked an eyebrow upward as he turned his gaze upon his redheaded companion.

"Me? Meddle? Heaven forbid!" Kyu smiled devilishly putting her hand to her chest dramatically. "Do I look like the meddling type?"

"It seemed to be an old pastime of yours if I recall." Sarutobi smirked.

"Old habits die hard I supposed." Kyu shrugged. "But really… I'm just glad to see that he's enjoying himself. And besides, she seems like a nice enough girl."

"Oh she is. You won't find a more polite, proper and all around pleasant girl… If you can get past the shyness." The old man chuckled.

"Yes! I almost couldn't believe she was really a Hyuuga!" Kyu laughed.

* * *

On the opposite end of the Dance hall, the constantly masked ninja Kakashi sat in an open window seal, one leg dangling over the edge lazily, still in his jounin uniform only minus his green flack jacket. Arms crossed over his chest, the gray haired young man stared intently at the Hokage and Kyu with his only available eye.

If it hadn't occurred to anybody before, Kakashi usually wasn't one for big social functions. When he was young, it usually took Obito, Rin, or his sensei to drag him out to have some fun. Kakashi just felt awkward at those situations, unless it had to do with a ninja mission, socializing just wasn't easy.

But still, in memory of his departed friends, the gray haired shinobi still came to these events. Most of the time he kept himself preoccupied in a corner with a book, but this time was different…

SHE was here…

Kakashi closed his visible eye… Recalling his conversation with the Hokage a week ago.

* * *

_"So I take it you're aware of our returning resident." The Elderly man asked seemly to no one. The Hokage was dressed in his normal robes, standing in the middle of his office, appearing to study an intricate wall scroll._

_"Why wasn't I told that Kyuubi was back?" Kakashi asked bluntly, coming into view of the room. "… Hokage-sama." He added as an after thought._

_"… I… wanted to give her some time to gain her bearings without anyone spying on her." Sarutobi explained, turning to face his subordinate._

_"Forgive me sir, but even you could come up with a better excuse than that." Kakashi said bluntly. "The Fourth was my sensei and I'm currently Naruto's teacher. I should have been informed of this."_

_The elder man closed his eyes, deep in thought._

_"I have my reasons Kakashi." The Third answered._

_"… I can't possibly see any reasons why." The Jounin shot back. "This is vital information… Just on this mission, something happened with Naruto. I had no idea if it was his natural demon powers surfacing or if it was some kind of influence by Kyuubi."_

_"You were aware of it on the mission?" The Hokage's eyebrow popped upward in interest._

_"Naruto was telling me about his friend 'Kyu-chan' before the incident on the bridge. From what I could tell, he wasn't aware that she was even his mother." Kakashi explained. "How long has she been back?"_

_"Since the day of the Genin exam at the Academy." Sarutobi answered._

_"That long?" Kakashi looked surprised. "I would think that would be more than enough time to 'get her bearings.'"_

_"…" The Hokage looked to be deep in thought again. "Tell me Kakashi… What are your feelings about the woman?"_

_"What?" Kakashi looked somewhat confused._

_"I mean… What are your feelings towards Kyuubi?" The Hokage went on._

_"I… She was my sensei's wife. He loved her…. She…" Kakashi was trying to find the right words._

_"Was the cause of his death?" Sarutobi supplied._

_Kakashi looked at the elder man in surprise._

_"You blame her for the demon attacking the village? I know you held a lot of respect for the Fourth and you were never really at ease with her." Sarutobi continued._

_"That's not true…" Kakashi voice didn't sound confident._

_"I remember quite well how you felt after Arashi died, Kakashi. I know you blamed her for the attacks and his death." The Hokage looked at Kakashi straight in the eye. "Can you honestly tell me that you still don't hold an ill will towards her?"_

_"I…" Kakashi looked away. "I don't know… Is this why you didn't tell me?"_

_"Partly." Sarutobi admitted. "The other part being that I really did wanted to give Kyu sometime to meet with Naruto and regain her bearings. She's been asleep for the last twelve years; she nearly died herself in that attack."_

_"Yes… Thank you for explaining everything." Kakashi nodded his head before turning towards the open window._

_"And I'm sorry." The Hokage said, Kakashi paused in his step. "I should have told you sooner. But… Please remember, Arashi loved her, and wouldn't want you to hold on to any grudge against her."_

_"Yes… I know." Kakashi nodded and then he was gone in an instant. A gentle breeze blew against the curtains of the window.

* * *

_

Kakashi sighed. There was no way he could hate the woman his sensei loved. It was irrational to blame her for what happened. But still… a part of him felt she was a still partly responsible.

But… He supposed he'd just have to get over it.

There was nothing else he could, or should do than that.

* * *

Hyuuga Hiashi looked grim.

Well… Okay, he always looked grim, that's just the kind of face he had… Which unsurprisingly, was the kind of face ALL Hyuuga's had… Well, except for one.

His daughter Hinata, who was currently in the middle of a ridiculous conga line was the exception. She was laughing merrily, and just behind her was that… boy.

Hiashi had a great deal of respect for the Fourth, well earned respect at that. The blonde man who had been hokage had proven himself a great warrior, a young man much wiser than his years and of having a personality good for diplomacy.

The Hyuuga head had complete confidence in the sealing that the Yondaime had performed. But still, it was unnerving, and what would others say about the heiress of the clan associating with… The demon container?

Hiashi felt that this had gone on long enough; it was time to collect his daughter before she made any further embarrassment of the clan.

"Ah! Hiashi-donno, I was wondering if you'd show up." The Hyuuga head blinked, and turned around to face the Hokage, a somewhat familiar redheaded woman with him.

"Hokage-sama. It's a pleasure." Hiashi bowed.

"Oh, come now, I've told you a thousand times, no need to be so formal." Sarutobi laughed. "How have you been?"

"Very good." Hiashi nodded, eyeing the redhead suspiciously. "I'm sorry, have we met before?"

"Oh me?" Kyu asked, smiling coyly. "I visited a few times previously… But it's been quite a while."

"Ah." Hiashi nodded, instantly dismissing the woman as unimportant. "And how are you Hokage-sama?"

"Oh, I'm doing fine." Sarutobi smiled. "I love this festival. It's so wonderful to see everyone relaxing and having a chance to enjoy themselves, it truly makes me happy."

The Hyuuga head simply nodded.

"I see your daughter seems to be enjoying herself as well." The Elder man chuckled. "It's been a while since we've had a ninja conga line."

"Yes… I was just about to get her before she made an embarrassment of herself." Hiashi turned around to find his daughter again.

"Why would you do that? She's having fun." The Redhead commented.

"Her actions will damage the dignity of the Hyuuga clan." Hiashi replied instantly.

"I hardly think that having fun with children her own age constitutes as damaging to a clan's dignity." The redhead smirked.

"As the strongest clan in Konoha, the Hyuuga clan has a certain level of respect to uphold." Hiashi replied matter of factly, as if this should have already been known.

"Sounds like a lot work, upholding clan dignity." The redhead commented. "Does this clan pride make you that happy?"

"Excuse me?" Hiashi looked at her puzzled. "Make me happy?"

"Well, I simply wonder." The redhead shrugged. "Why go to all of the trouble of holding up your dignity and honor as 'the strongest clan' if it doesn't make you happy."

"The pride of the Hyuuga clan is all the satisfaction I require." Hiashi replied automatically.

"…But why?" The redhead asked. "I know a lot about the Hyuuga clan, why go to all of this trouble of making yourselves out to be so formal and great if it doesn't make you happy. Being satisfied and being happy aren't the same thing. Why should an entire clan of people simply settle for that?"

Hiashi fixed his pure white eyes squarely on the redhead's ruby one. They stared at each other like that for a moment, unflinching.

The Hokage coughed into his hand loudly, dispelling the stare down.

"I apologize if my opinion was out of place." The redhead bowed her head; her tone obviously didn't convey any sincerity for apology. "It was good to see you here Sarutobi."

With that the redhead kissed the Third on the cheek and began to walk away. But before she got more than a few steps, she paused and turned her head around.

"But I just have to ask you one more question." The redhead spoke. Hiashi craned his eyebrow up. "Is your pride worth so much more than you daughter's happiness?"

With that said the redhead turned back around and continued away.

Hiashi watched her retreating figure until she was out of sight of normal vision.

The Hyuuga head turned to face the Hokage and bowed.

"It was good to see you here sir." And then he walked off, in the opposite direction of the dance floor.

"I thought you were going to get your daughter?" Sarutobi asked curiously. If Hiashi had activated his Byakugan, he would have seen the third's sly smile.

"…" Hiashi paused, looking over at his daughter… She was really smiling… When was the last time she smiled like that?

Never, he realized. Hiashi had never seen her look so happy before. Not with him, not when his wife was alive… Not ever.

"Let her… Enjoy herself tonight." He finally replied.

That said, Hyuuga Hiashi walked off to mingle with other clan heads and important figures of Konoha. The Hokage watched him leave, a pleased smile on his aging face.

Maybe there was hope for the man yet.

* * *

"I cannot believe this! This is… Fun!" Sakura laughed as the ninja conga line continued on, Inner Sakura cheering her agreement.

"Yeah! This is awesome! I wish I had started going to these festivals sooner!" Naruto grinned. "Thanks again for coming with me Hinata!"

"N-no, Thank YOU! Naruto-Kun!" Hinata laughed merrily. "I'm having a lot of fun!"

It was sometime later when the conga line died away the three exhausted genin sat down at a nearby table. Taking a moment to laugh, catch their breath and relax.

"Hey Naruto…" Sakura asked, getting the blonde's attention. "Is this really the first time you've come to the festival?"

"Yeah…" Naruto nodded. "I've tried coming when I was younger… But there were these jerks that wouldn't let me come… and after that… I guess I just felt kinda weird coming… Everybody always has somebody to come with… a date… their parents… It just felt weird. So I decided not to bother."

Sakura looked surprised. 'That's right…' She thought. 'Sometimes I forget that he doesn't have any parents…' The pink haired girl looked sad for her companion, even though Sasuke wasn't here, she had still come with her parents at least like they did every year.

"But that's okay now!" Naruto grinned. "Because Hinata here was really awesome and asked me to come with her!"

Said girl blushed profusely and tried to hide herself in her lavender kimono.

"Really? YOU asked HIM?" Sakura really was surprised. Everyone was well aware of Hinata's incredibly shy nature.

"I um… yeah." The poor girls face was bright red to Sakura's notice, though Naruto seemed oblivious to it.

"Hey… Do you know if Sasuke showed up?" Naruto suddenly asked out of the blue.

"Sasuke? No… He didn't come." Sakura looked down at the table in disappointment.

"Pfft. What a drag. The guy doesn't know when to loosen up. Seriously, he acts all grouchy and sullen all the time and why? Because he never let's himself have any fun!" Naruto scoffed. "He needs to kick back and enjoy himself."

At first Sakura's main reaction was to instantly yell at Naruto for making any kind of insult about Sasuke at all… But stopped herself when she realized… She agreed with him!

"Heh… You know Naruto… I think you're right." The pink hair girl smiled, but it faded away when she turned her thoughts back to the dark haired boy. "He really should have some fun… He always looks like he's… (sigh) Like he can't let himself be happy or something."

"You noticed that too?" Naruto asked. "What's up with that?"

"Maybe… Maybe it has something to do with that guy he says he has to kill." Sakura suggested, fidgeting nervously with the sleeve of her pink Kimono.

"K-kill somebody?" Hinata squeaked. "Why would he want to kill anyone?"

"Dunno." Naruto shrugged. "I just hope it's not me."

"I really doubt that." Sakura stared at the blonde with a 'Are you really that stupid?' look.

Hinata simply giggled quietly to herself.

* * *

Now onto…

IRUKA THE AMAZING CHUUNIN SIDE STORY!

It was a really nice Festival this year, in Iruka's opinion. The music was good, the food was fantastic, and everybody seemed to be having a blast!

"Grrrrr…"

(Sigh)Iruka tried to ignore it, pretend he really wasn't hearing it… but he just couldn't seem to ignore the fact that anytime any woman got close to him… Anko started growling!

"Um, Anko?" Iruka asked hesitantly.

"Hm?" His date turned and smiled sweetly at him, as though she hadn't been glaring daggers at that blonde girl who had smiled at Iruka.

"Why are you growling?" He asked nervously.

"Growling? I'm not growling! Heh, heh… Boy Iruka! You better get your ears checked!" Anko laughed nervously.

"Hi Iruka-kun! You're looking sharp." A busty brunette smiled slyly at him.

"Get lost!" Anko snapped. The Brunette put up her hands defensively as she back away.

"What was that all about?" Iruka sighed.

"Fine… Look… I just get a little defensive when other girls try and steal you away." Anko admitted.

"Steal me away!" Iruka laughed. "Anko… I'm glad you think so highly of me, but I've never been really popular with women. Hell, I'm thankful to god everyday that I have you."

"Really? Oh that's so sweet!" Anko gushed. "Except that's only half true."

"Huh?" Iruka looked confused.

"Well… I might have been talking to a group of girls a while back and… I might have pointed out that you are probably the most eligible bachelor in Konoha." Anko explained, grinning somewhat sheepishly.

"I… am?" Iruka looked stunned.

"Yeah… But I don't want to get into that part now." Anko waved her hand dismissively. "The point is that almost every available woman in the village has her eyes on you now."

"I find that a little hard to believe." Iruka crossed his arms skeptically over his dark grey Kimono.

"Don't believe me?" Anko asked, she seem to be debating something for a moment before sighing. "Fine, you stay here, and I'm going to go all the way over there and bring us back some punch okay?"

"Okaaay…" Iruka didn't look like he understood point of this.

Reluctantly, Anko walked away from her date and to the long table holding most of the food and dinks. Taking her time, she gathered two cups and filled them with red punch.

When she returned to where she left Iruka, she found him surrounded by almost a dozen women.

"So Iruka, how is teaching at the academy? You seem to so do well with those kids." A blonde smiled at him sweetly.

"Yeah, I love a man who's good with kids" another added.

"I, uh… well Um…" Iruka stuttered nervously. He tried to inch away, but the group of women seemed to be closing in on him.

"You know Iruka… that scar makes you look kinda rugged." A dark haired girl commented, a sultry smile gracing her lips. "I like rugged."

"Uh…"

"Oh Iruka! I got us some PUNCH!" Anko announced loudly, getting the attention of both Iruka and the group of females surrounding him.

Most of the women shot her distasteful glares before sauntering away.

"See what I mean?" Anko gave him an 'I told you so' look.

"I… uh… wow." Iruka looked like he completely baffled.

"Don't let this get to your head now." Anko smirked. "Remember you've still got me, right?"

Blinking in surprised, Iruka looked down and Anko. She was wearing a dark green kimono with intricate white lace designs, and her hair was held up with ornamental hair pins… She looked beautiful… Just staring into those brown almond shaped eyes…

"Of course!" Iruka smiled. "With you, what does any other girl matter?"

"Heh, good anwer." Anko smiled.

Craning her head, the black haired woman, smiled as if she just noticed something about Iruka.

"You know… I have to admit… That one girl was right." Anko said as she gently cupped Iruka's chin between her two fingers, angling his face so she could look at it better.

"Right about what?" Iruka asked curiously.

"That scar does make you look kinda rugged." Anko smirked just before she pulled Iruka's head down so she could kiss him right on top of his scar. "I like rugged too."

"Heh…" The chuunin's face was turning a nice shade of pink, much to Anko's delight.

"AH! IRUKA MY FRIEND! ENJOYING THE FLAMES OF YOUR YOUTH TONIGHT!" Both Anko and Iruka flinched upon the sudden outburst directed towards them from behind.

Turning around, the young couple came face to face with none other than Maito Gia. Instead of his normal green body suit and leg warmers, Gai thankfully had the taste to wear a kimono, the color exactly matching his body suites of course.

"Oh… Hello Gai, how are you?" Iruka replied nervously.

"VERY GOOD! THE NIGHT IS YOUNG AND THE FLAMES OF MY PASSION BURN BRIGHTLY!" Gai shouted out his response. "It was fortunate that I could attend the festival this year!"

"Oh really? You couldn't make it before?" Iruka asked, grateful that Gai had finally lowered his voice.

"No, unfortunately my team and I were in the middle of a mission in Water Country when the festival occurred!" Gai explained. "But luckily, the great green beast of Konoha was able to come this year! Much to his grandiosely beautiful wife's pleasure!"

"That's nice…" Iruka nodded. "… Wait, wife?"

"Yes! I shall go get her! She will be most pleased to meet you!" Instantly Gai dashed off without another word.

"… I didn't know Gai was married…" Iruka said in surprise.

"At first I thought it was a joke… Until I met her." Anko shrugged.

"What's she like?" Iruka was very curious as to what kind of woman would marry Gai… Oh god… what did she LOOK like? (Shudder)

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Anko replied.

"Ah! Iruka! I would like you to meet my lovely wife Kimiko!" Gai said with his ever present enthusiasm.

Iruka's eyes nearly bugged out… Gai's wife was… GORGEOUS! Long wavy black hair, almond shaped eyes, an angular face, and an ample busso-

Iruka shook his head and put on a polite smile.

"How do you do, I'm Umino Iruka." Iruka bowed.

"Oh! It's so wonderful to meet some of Gai-kun friends!" The beautiful woman gushed out. Her voice like the soft rhythm of a harp. "My husband has so many wonderful friends that I'm not sure if I'll eve get to meet them all!"

"Heh… Uh, yeah, Gai sure has a lot of friends." Iruka chuckled nervously. Out of the corner of his eye, Iruka saw that Anko was trying to keep her laughter to herself.

"So… Uh, I didn't realize Gai was married… How did you two meet?" Iruka tried very hard not to stare at the woman's chest… But it was REALLY HARD! She had a really amazing figur-

Iruka shook his head again.

"Oh! I met Gai-kun several years ago." Kimiko smiled warmly, her arms circling around Gai's right arm. Her eyes fluttering as she looked up at guys face. "I was just a farm girl living in an very small and isolated village in the mountains when Gai-kun came.

"He said he was on a training journey in our mountains and I couldn't help but watch him while he trained, he was just mesmerizing! He was SO strong and HANDSOME!… I fell in love immediately!"

Anko and Iruka both stared in amazement at the love sick expression that fell over the beautiful woman's face as she stared up into her husband's eyes.

"And his words! Everything he said was poetry! His passion for life… his dedication… I begged my father until he let me come back here with Gai-kun! We were married as soon as possible and I've never been happier!" Kimiko continued on.

"And I too my Beautiful Flower! You are the rose that blooms over and over again! Each time more beautiful than the last!" Gai exclaimed.

"OH GAI!"

"OH KIMIKO!"

"GAI!"

"KIMIKO!"

"GAI!"

"KIMIKO!"

(KISS!)

"… Okay, is it me or is that just bizzare." Anko whispered. Iruka simply nodded his head in response.

While the two lovers shared their… uh… intimate moment, both Iruka and Anko slowly inched away to a safe distance.

"You know… despite the… weirdness of that… It was actually kind of sweet." Iruka smiled.

"Yeah…" Anko nodded, a sly grin spreading across her face. "Have you ever thought about marriage yourself?"

That seemed to catch Iruka off guard and he stumbled slightly as they were walking.

"M-marriage? … Uh, well, yeah, I guess I think about that every now and then." He answered, scratching the back of his head.

"It must be nice…" Anko's smile spread even wider. "Spending the rest of your life with that 'Special Someone.'"

"Y-yeah… It's a big step though." Iruka nodded.

"You worried about it?" Anko turned to find that Iruka's face was a mixture of a wide range of emotions. It seemed almost impossible to figure out what he was thinking…

"Well… It's just… My parent's died when I was young so… I've always really wanted to have a family of my own someday. Though for a while it seemed like teaching was always getting in the way."

Anko's heart was suddenly beginning to speed up now. This was starting to get really serious.

"And now… I… I just don't want to do anything stupid like rush things and make you uncomfortable." Iruka explained, he looked really embarrassed explaining this sort of thing. "But yeah… I have been thinking about it."

Anko smiled at him. But this time is was a warm smile, gentle and filled with a feeling of real love.

"Don't worry Iruka, go as fast as you feel is right. I'm not going anywhere." Anko assured him as she kissed him on the cheek. "But not TOO slow. 'Cause I'm not THAT patient."

Iruka chuckled, a sense of relief washing over him. Smiling as his girlfriend, he wrapped his arm around her waist and guided towards the dance floor, feeling like the luckiest guy in the world.

"NINJA CONGA LINE!"

Iruka blinked as the entire room suddenly went silent for a moment…

And then…

Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun DA!

Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun DA!

Cheers erupted all around.

"Awesome! I haven't been in a ninja conga line since I was five!" Anko exclaimed excitably.

Iruka didn't have time to say anything as Anko grabbed his hand and the two of them joined the ever growing line of dancing ninjas.

Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun DA!

Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun DA!

The rest of the night went on without incident; everybody enjoyed themselves and had a good time.

It was a good thing too, because soon things would be getting a lot more interesting around Konoha, and much more hectic.

* * *

Next, The Chuunin examines begin! And Iruka finds out a big secret about Anko! 


	8. Dinner at the Nara's

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. But man… It would be so BADASS if I did…

This story is inspired by a series of 'Bitch Kyuubi' deviation artworks done by an Artist named 'Croaky.' I really liked the artwork and it inspired me to write this fic. I'd encourage you to check it out. There is a link to it in my profile.

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE 

Hey everyone! I'm back again! And I'm **REALLY** sorry about the delay… Bad case of school work/ writer's block.

Also: **Garret PI** and **Slothful **- You leave the most kick ass reviews! Thanks, I really appreciate the level of depth you went into. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. And Garret I really appreciate you taking the time to SERIOUSLY critique my work. I sent you an e-mail thank you about that… though I'm not sure if you got it or not. My internet was having some trouble that week.

**Fan Art Note**: Also, I've posted several **Naruto fan arts** on my deviant art page, so if anybody wants to see what kind of art skills I have, go ahead and take a look, the link is in my Profile.

Chapter 8:

"Seriously Sasuke, you should have been there! It was awesome!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly. "We even had a conga line and everything."

"Really now?" Sasuke replied lamely.

Team Seven was currently waiting in their usual place on the bridge, once again, waiting for their sensei to arrive. Sitting on the bridge railing, looking out onto the small ravine was the brooding Uchiha prodigy. Standing right next to him was an energetic blonde, regaling him with the details of the Autumn festival several days ago.

Several feet away, Sakura sat on the opposite railing watching with some amusement at Naruto's energetic display. Part of her was miffed that the blonde was bothering her Sasuke-kun, but then again… Sasuke looked about just as annoyed as if Naruto hadn't been talking.

"'Come on Sakura, tell him! It was awesome!" Sakura blinked in surprise as she was pulled into the conversation.

"Well… It was a lot of fun. Why didn't you come?" Sakura asked, a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"Didn't feel like going." Sasuke replied simply.

"Well, it's a pity, not often you get to see a genuine ninja conga line in action." Turning in surprise, the three genin saw their sensei Kakashi leaning against the bridge railing, reading his infamous orange book again.

"You're Late!" The familiar cry of both Naruto and Sakura rang out.

"Sorry I got-"

"Lost on the road of life?" Naruto cut in.

"Cross paths with a black cat?" Sakura crossed her arms over her chest, frowning.

"Help an old lady cross the street?" Naruto added.

"Fight a horde of invading ninjas?" Sasuke glared at his teacher.

"Get abducted by aliens, break free from their holding cell before they probed you, fight off their giant kill-bots and save the planet from utter destruction?" Sakura stated, ticking points off her fingers.

Kakashi blinked.

"Wow… I didn't realize I'd used that one already…" The Jounin scratched his head, sweating nervously.

"Don't forget the one about the demonic alligator that supposedly lived in the sewers that you happened to come across when you were on your way here." Added Naruto.

"Wow… I almost never have to use that one…" Kakashi sweated even more.

His three students just seemed to get more and more ticked off.

"Well anyways, the reason I called you here today is-"

"A big mission?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Training in how not to interrupt your sensei." A quick whap to the head followed.

The blonde rubbed in his head and glared at his sensei.

"As you may or may not be aware of, this year's chuunin exam will be held in the hidden village of the Leaf." Kakashi explained.

"W-what?" Sakura looked at Kakashi in surprise. "You think were ready to be promoted already?"

"I think you got it in you." The gray haired man nodded. In his hands were three applications, where once his book had been.

"But be warned… I want you three to take the rest of the day to think this over." Kakashi said, staring most pointedly at Naruto. "I want you to seriously consider whether or not you are ready to take this test yet. There is danger involved in the exam. It's nowhere near as simple as the genin exam."

The three nodded.

'Nowhere near as simple! The three of us almost didn't pass our genin exam!' Sakura thought worriedly.

'This is awesome!' Naruto thought gleefully. 'Hokage here I come! … But… The genin test was hard, if Sasuke hadn't shared his lunch with me… I'd still be in the academy. Maybe I SHOULD think about this…I should talk to Kyu-I mean Mom.'

'Finally.' Sasuke thought. The young Uchiha suddenly recalled an incident from a few days ago involving several sand nins, one red haired sand nin in particular. 'A chance to test my strength against a spook like that…'

"Well, think this over… I mean it." That said, Kakashi was gone in a puff of smoke.

"Later." Sasuke said with a wave of his hand before disappearing off into the forest. Not giving either of his a teammates a chance to say anything.

"Well uh… I'm gonna go… talk to someone… See ya later Sakura-chan!" And Naruto was off as well, leaving the young Hurano girl by herself.

Sakura looked at the application one more time.

'Can I… Can I really do this?'

The young girl was going to have to think long and hard about this.

* * *

"So what do you think?"

Kyu closed her eyes and thought about what she'd been told.

"Do YOU think you're ready for the Chuunin exam?" Kyu asked.

"Well… Yeah! I've learned a lot of cool stuff." Naruto nodded. "And I'm getting really good at the whole transformation thing."

"What about the claw attack I showed you?" Kyu asked.

"Oh… Uh, Yeah I got that one." Naruto nodded, looking away from his mother.

"Then show me." Kyu ordered.

"Uh…" He gulped nervously.

Nodding his head, Naruto closed his eyes and willed his transformation.

Opening his red animalistic eyes, Naruto focused on one of the nearby trees. Flexing his clawed hands, the blonde began to focus his chakra into his claws.

'Focus, focus, focus, focus….' Naruto chanted in his head.

Naruto pulled all his concentration onto the tree, and with a lightening quick movement lashed out with his right hand!

"…"

And nothing happened.

"Got it, do you?" Kyu asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"I'll get it!" Naruto replied defensively.

"I'm know you will. Even without your… 'bloodlimit'… I think you'll be alright in the chuunin exam." The redhead explained.

"You think so?" Naruto asked, turning back to normal.

"Yes. But I've already told you… The question is ultimately if YOU think you're ready."

"Right." Naruto nodded.

"Well, I'm going to be heading off." Kyu said, standing up.

"Huh? Where are you going?" Naruto looked his mother curiously.

"I saw this lovely pack of deer this morning. I was going to take a closer look at them." Kyu explained as she walked. "Do you want to come with?"

"Uh… Sure." Naruto nodded, following after her.

* * *

"This place looks familiar…" The blonde commented off handedly. As he looked around the grassy meadow, some thing about this place reminded him of something… Something… Lazy.

He and Kyu had walked a short distance out of the forest area and come across a large field of grass, dozens of deer grazing around, oblivious to the two intruders.

"Aren't they lovely?" Kyu smiled as she approached one of the larger deer. When the animal caught sight of her, it appeared to almost freeze in panic. Naruto was almost about to jump in but the deer relaxed and allowed the pale woman to stroke his fur.

"Wow, you're good with animals." Naruto watched in awe.

"I've spend a greater part of my life as one you know." Kyu smiled. "It's funny though… I'm crossed between petting this deer… And eating it."

The blonde boy sweat dropped and in that moment could have sworn the deer did too.

"Hey, who's out there?" A voice called out, both mother and son blinked in surprise, looking around for the source of the voice.

"Huh? Who's there?" Naruto said.

"That's what **I** just said." The blonde jumped back in surprise as a head popped out of the tall grass. "How troublesome, I can't even take a nap without trespasser's 'causing trouble."

"Heeeey… I know you…" Naruto squinted at the young man sitting in the grass.

"Well of course you do." The boy frowned. "We were in the academy together."

"Yeah!" Naruto exclaimed, snapping his fingers. "You're that lazy guy on the loud blonde girl's team!"

The boy's eye twitched slightly.

"Do you even know my name?"

"O-of course I do!" Naruto 'stammered.' "It's uh… Uh… Choji...maru?"

"Shikamaru." The boy sighed.

"I knew that." Naruto sniffed.

"Sure. So what are you doing here?" Shikamaru asked as he got up off the ground.

"Oh, I was just looking at the deer with my mom." Naruto explained.

"You're mom?" The lazy boy quirked an eyebrow.

"Yeah! She's right…" Naruto paused as he looked behind him, only to find nobody there. "Hey, where'd she go!"

"Eh, doesn't really matter." Shikamaru shrugged. "As long as you don't harm the dear, there's nothing to worry about.

"Well, okay…" Naruto nodded, still somewhat confused about where the redheaded fox woman went.

"Shikamaru! Shikamaru! Get off your lazy butt and come to dinner!" A loud feminine voice called out. In the distance a woman wearing a white apron could be seen leaning out the door of a house.

"I'm coming! Jeeze…" The lazy boy muttered. "Man… Mothers... So troublesome."

"Really?" Naruto looked at Shikamaru strangely. "Is it that bad?"

"Eh…" He shrugged. "All she does is nag and tell me and my dad what to do."

"Shikamaru! Do you have a friend with you?" The Lazy boy's mother called out.

"Yeah!… I guess."

"Then be polite and invite him to join us! I swear… Didn't I teach you ANY manners!" The woman cried out in exasperation before turning back into the house.

"Wow." The blonde stared in awe.

"Yep." Shikamaru nodded. "So… You wanna stay for dinner?"

"Well…" Naruto paused to think about it for a moment, he could try and find his mom again… but she probably disappeared for reason… And Iruka was usually busy with something around now… Though Naruto couldn't figure out what it was…

* * *

Half way across Konoha.

"Achoo!" Iruka sneezed.

"Bless you." Anko smiled sweetly.

"Thanks…" Iruka nodded, and then continued to shaking the can of whip cream he had in his hand..

"So uh… Where did you want me to put the whip cream again?" The Chuunin asked, his face blushed a dark shade of pink as he looked at his currently naked girlfriend.

* * *

"Thanks for inviting me." Naruto grinned as Mrs. Nara began to shovel large helpings of food onto his plate.

"Oh I'm glad to!" The woman smiled. "It's good to see that Shikamaru is making friends outside of Chouji and Ino."

"Making friends is too troublesome." Shikamaru grumbledas dug his chopstick into his meal.

"Shikamaru! Wait for your father." Mrs. Nara scolded. At just that moment an older and what looked like a more scarred version of Shikamaru walked into the room.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." The man said as he took his seat at the table. "debriefing from our last mission wasrunning a bit long…"

It was at that moment that the man, Naruto guessed to be Shikamaru's father noticed the blonde ninja. A look of complete shock written on the older man's face.

"Um… Dear… Why is… HE here?" The man asked pointing at Naruto.

"Don't be rude Shikatou!" Mrs. Nara frowned. "Naruto is Shikamaru's guest."

"Oh... Um right." Shikatou nodded a look of nervousness crossing his face when hea glanced at the blonde.

"So Naruto, heard about he Chuunin examine coming up?" Shikamaru asked, as he began eat.

"Yeah, I've been thinking about it a lot today. I guess I finally figured that after the exam, I'll be one step close to Hokage!" The blonde grinned.

"Hokage? You're still on about that?" Shikamaru quirked an eyebrow up.

"Shikamaru, don't be rude." Mrs. Nara frowned at her son but smiled when she turned to Naruto. "Hokage? My, you are quite motivated and full of energy aren't you?"

And then she looked at Shikamaru again.

"Unlike SOME people."

The lazy boy's only response was a role of the eyes.

"Hokage huh? Why would you want to be hokage?" Shikatou asked as he eyed the blonde suspiciously.

"Well…" Naruto frowned. "So everyone in the village will finally acknowledge my existence!"

"Huh?" The man looked puzzled.

"It's always the same, everybody always ignores me. But if I become Hokage then it'll prove that I'm the best ninja in the village and then everybody will have to acknowledge me!"

Both of Shikamaru's parents looked at him in surprise. Shikamaru himself looked like he had heard it all before.

"That's quite a goal you got there." Shikatou said, cocking his head slightly as if he was suddenly seeing a different side to the young Uzumaki that he'd never seen before.

"Oh my…Well good luck then!" Mrs. Nara smiled.

The rest of dinner went by with little to no incident. Though Shikamaru seemed to have a lot of complaints about his mother, Naruto thought she was a really nice lady, and a pretty good cook!

"Thanks for dinner!" Naruto waved as he walked away from the Nara's home.

"Feel free to come back anytime!" Mrs. Nara smiled. "I can only hope some of your energy rubs off on Shikamaru!"

Standing behind his mother, Shikamaru merely rolled his eyes again.

From the edge of the forest, gentling petting one of the dear, Kyu smiled as she watched her son's orange clad formleave the Nara house.

"I hope you make lots of friends Naruto..." Kyu whispered softly.

* * *

The next day:

The chuunin exam had begun on a rough note. Between seeing through the illusion of a couple of genins and dealing with a bizarre boy with creepy eyebrows. It was seemed to be one hurtle after another for team 7.

Of course, things didn't improve at all when the exam instructors actually arrived. Naruto was in the middle of debating which was worse, the creepy instructor… or his impossibly hard test.

And too make things worse for the poor blonde; he was sitting next to a major distraction.

Hinata.

Why was sitting next to the shy Hyuuga such a problem? Well, you'd have to rewind about twenty minutes earlier…

* * *

_The morning was a bright and shining day. To many genin a good omen for the exam to come. Leading against one of the walls outside the testing center was a pink haired girl with a thoughtful look on her face._

_"Hey Sakura!" Naruto grinned as he jogged up to the young girl._

_"Hey Naruto." Sakura smiled._

_"Hey guess where I was last night!" The blonde grinned._

_"On a date with your girlfriend?" Sakura smirked._

_"No- Wait… girlfriend?" Naruto looked confused._

_"What? You and Hinata aren't dating?" Sakura was trying to tease her teammate to take away some of her own worries but was finding it difficult due to the blonde's confusion._

_"Me and Hinata?" Naruto cocked his head to the side. "Why would you think that?"_

_"Well… You two looked like you were having a lot fun together at the festival right? And you said she asked you to the dance didn't she?" Sakura asked. Was Naruto really that dense?_

_"Well yeah… but you had a lot of fun with us too…" The blonde pointed out._

_"Near the end of the dance." Sakura corrected. "The rest of the time it was just the two of you." Now Sakura was grinning again. Naruto's face was gradually getting redder._

_"W-well… she's not my girlfriend." Naruto replied, his voice betraying his uncertainty. "…Is she?"_

_"You don't know?" Sakura looked at him oddly._

_"What?" Naruto said defensively. "I've never had a girlfriend before."_

_"And after all those times you bugged me for a date…" Sakura muttered as she shook her head.

* * *

_

'She's not my girlfriend right?' Naruto thought, scratching his head with his pencil. '…I mean… aren't you suppose to do something… or say something if you're dating?'

Of course… all this time thinking about whether or not he had a girlfriend was seriously eating up the boy's test time.

"Grrrr… I'm never gonna get this…" The blonde mumbled turning back to the written exam from hell. 'I need to… I NEED TO CHEAT!'

But the question was how…

'Damnit… how do I look at somebody else's test without getting seen?' Naruto frowned. 'Wiat…That's it!'

In the corner of his eye, six seats in front of him, there was a genin who appeared to be writing down a lot of stuff on his paper… Even if it was a wrong answer it was still better than nothing Naruto reasoned.

Focusing with all his might, Naruto concentrated the demonic change specifically to his eyes. After a long moment, he hesitantly opened them, seeing the world in a whole new light.

"Perfect!" He whispered as he used his enhanced vision to look at and copy down the answers from the genin sitting in front of him.

Though… If he had really thought about it, Naruto probably could have just gotten the answers from Hinata, seeing she had already finished her own test three minutes ago...

Naruto was lucky, considering the angle he was at to the examiners, it was impossible for them to tell whether or not he was cheating. To anyone watching him, it would appear as though he was merely staring off into space.

But one ninja was not concerned about catching the blonde cheating. He was too focused on what he had just seen happen to Naruto's eyes. From the angle he was at in his seat, the young genin was able to see the normally sky blue eyes of the blonde turned a bright crimson red.

The young ninja stared at Naruto, trying to grasp what he had just seen.

"No…" Sasuke whisper. "Naruto… he couldn't possibly be…"

* * *

And now the side story to beat out all other side stories… Well actually… I personally can't really recall reading any other fics with a side story like this…

… Uh anyways….

IRUKA THE AMAZING CHUUNIN SIDE STORY!

It was a bright and shining day outside. Bird's were chirping, flower's were blooming and Mitarashi Anko looked depressed.

Said Jounin was sitting on the ledge of building right across from the exam center. The angle of her spot being perfect for looking into the testing room so she could get the timing right for her 'entrance.'

But the young snake woman wasn't paying too much attention to the test room at the moment. Her eyes focused lazily on her dangling legs.

'… I guess I'm gonna have to tell him eventually.' Anko thought. 'I'm not sure whether he's going to be happy… upset… or just going to faint.'

The young woman took a brief moment to glance up at the clouds.

"Yeah… He'd probably just faint." She smiled wearily.

Anko closed her eyes as her thoughts let her drift back to earlier the night before.

* * *

_Anko was standing in her bathroom, staring into her own reflection in the mirror with a look of high anxiety, doing her absolute best to look anywhere but at the small stick in her hand._

_"Please say no… Please say no…" She mumbled under her breath._

_Pausing one moment to brace herself, Anko looked down at the stick._

_"…" And had no idea what it said._

_"Shit, where'd that box go…" She muttered as she scrounged around the sink._

_When she finally found the box and read the direction, the jounin paled._

_"Oh crap."_

_"Something the matter Anko?" Iruka asked as he knocked on the door._

_"N-nothing!" Anko called out._

_"You sure… You've been in there for a while." Iruka said worriedly. "Are you feeling sick like you did this morning?"_

_"No! Uuuuh… Just y'know… 'Lady stuff.'" Anko cringed… She was a special jounin, she could come up with better excuses than that!_

_"Lady stuff?" Iruka asked in confusion._

_The young woman sighed, dropping the stick and box into the trashcan making sure to bury them to the bottom of the garbage before stepping out of the bathroom._

_"You alright?" Iruka asked worriedly._

_"Sure! I'm fine!" Anko put on a face smile._

_"Are you sure? You looked kind of upset a second ago."_

_Anko suppressed a grimace… she couldn't tell him now… She wasn't ready to. She had to get him off this train of thought._

_And then an idea came to her._

_"Hey Iruka… Have I ever showed you this little game I know involving whip cream?" Anko smiled seductively at the scarred man._

_"W-whip cream?" Iruka stuttered.

* * *

_

Anko sighed… She'd joked about it plenty of times, even had serious fantasies about maybehaving a real family… And just a several days ago, the talk of marriage had come up… Serious talk.

But really... theywere justwhimsical dreams and wishful thinking… but when all was said and done… Anko realized the reality of the situation when she looked at the results of that test last night.

And that test had smacked her square in the face with a harsh piece of truth.

Anko…was too screwed up to be a mother.

"All these years you've been gone…" The young woman muttered as she twirled a kunai around her finger absently. "And I'm still finding knew things about myself that you've helped ruin…"

"Dreams are just dreams I guess... nothing more." The young woman sighed.

"Huh?" Blinking, Anko realized that the first part of the exam was over and Ibiki was giving his little lecture about 'accepting mission' and all that other boring junk.

The snake woman stood up and suddenlyl... Grinned maliciously.

What better way to take her mind of her problems than by making a bunch of kids suffer by sending them to the forest of death?

With that thought in mind, the young jounin jumped the distance between the two buildings and crashed straight through the window, being careful to launch the kunais attached to her banner off the moment she landed.

"None of you are in any position to celebrate!" Anko exclaimed, reciting her planned speech. "I am the second chief examiner! Mitarashi Anko!"

Everyone one stared at the woman in shock.

"Times a wasting here people! Follow me!"

The room remained deathly silent…

"Can't you sense the mood in here?" Ibiki whispered, pushing Anko's banner to the side.

"Jeeze… What a bunch of stiffs…" Anko frowned. "What'd you do to them Ibiki? Take off your bandanna and show them your creepy scars or something?"

Deathly silence again…

"Oh… I guess you did…"

"W-what the heck is going on!" Exclaimed a blonde haired boy near the back.

"Quiet you little punk!" Anko snapped. 'Ah crap, is that the Fox kid-I mean… Naruto?'

Maybe should she should be nice to the kid… for Iruka. The two of them were awfully close after all...

"Who the heck do you think you are!" The boy exclaimed.

"I'm the one who can fail you if you don't clam up!" She shot back... Okay forget the being nice thing….

Grumbling the boy sat back down.

Huffing, Anko took a moment to scan the room, blinking in surprise as she suddenly realized something.

"Hey what's the deal Ibiki! You getting soft or something? There are still twenty six teams here! What's going on?"

"An excellent group this year." The scarred man shrugged nonchalantly.

"Well, don't worry, I'll make sure to cut these brats down by half." Anko grinned evilly as she saw many of the genins gulp nervously.

"Alright then… Let's Go!" Anko exclaimed, heading out of the classroom, glad to forget her own worries, even for just a little while.

* * *

**Next:** Enter Orochimaru! And why does Kiba think he's the only sane member on his team? This and more on the next chapter of… Uh(Checks the title) A Mother and her Kit! 


	9. I don't Hate you

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. But man… It would be so BADASS if I did…

* * *

Okay, here's the thing…

I'm sorry. I haven't updated in a long while and you've all been getting antsy because I've been one of those jerks that takes so long to update you figure I've pretty much abandoned the story.

Sorry, I've had a lot of stuff to do with getting my degree in animation and working on a **web comic** on the side(check my profile for a link to that if your interested).

ALSO: I've been notified by several people that there is a striking similarity between my **3rd chapter** of of this fic and the **2nd chapter** of **HEIR TO THE THRONE**. I've checked it out and yes it is almost exactly the same. I've already left a note to the author. It's no big deal really. I'll just simply say that **I WROTE IT FIRST**. Enough said.

Now then, on to the fun stuff… Sorry, I know this chapter isn't as good as it could be. I just need to get through some of this canon before I get to other stuff.

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Chapter 9

When she first woke up, the young Hyuuga girl's first thoughts were to question on where she was. The room was white from wall to wall with a window to filter in the faint light of what appeared to be the early morning sun. Taking a deep breath as she slowly sat up in her bed, the faint odor of sanitized air wavering through her nostrils.

With less bleary eyes than she had a moment ago, she surveyed the room once more and came to the conclusion that she was in the hospital.

'Oh… I remember now.' The young girl thought as she recalled her battle with her cousin Neji in the preliminary round of the third trail. As she recalled the fight, and all and sudden wave of soreness washed over her body. "ugh!"

"Hinata?" Blinking through the brief shock of pain in her body, the young girl turned to face the now opened door of her room and finding a spiky blonde haired boy looking at her in surprise. "Alright! You're wake!"

"N-naruto!" Hinata squeaked in surprise, sitting up a little more, despite her bodies protest. "W-what are you doing here?"

"I came to see if you were doing any better." Naruto grinned brightly. "After three days I was starting to get worried."

"Three days?" Hinata titled her head to the side in confusion, before it dawned on her. "I've been unconscious for three days?"

"Yeah. But the doctor said you'd be fine. You'll just take a while to heal." Naruto nodded before pointing to table to Hinata's right. "Check it out! Somebody told me you're supposed to bring get well flowers when people get hurt. So I got you those."

Hinata turned her head to look at the table and saw a bright bouquet of all kinds of flowers. Hinata couldn't help but giggle, it was quite obvious that Naruto had picked them himself.

For every kind of flower in the bouquet was orange.

"It's lovely Naruto. Thank you very much." Hinata smiled happily as she face the blonde boy whose grin seemed to be even larger than before.

"Your welcome!" The blonde smiled as he pulled up a chair next to Hinata's bed. " Man, too bad about losing in that match though. It would've been cool if we both could have made it to the finals."

"Yeah…" The pale girls smile began to fall as she recalled the sound beating her cousin had delivered to her several days earlier. Looking back on it, Hinata realized she hadn't stood a chance against him. 'What will father think?'

"But man! You were awesome!" Naruto continued on, completely oblivious to the young girls faltering mood.

"Huh?" Hinata looked up at Naruto excited face in surprise.

"Yeah!" Naruto nodded vigorously. "That whole gentle fist thing… Man! That was so cool! You two really duked it out!"

Hinata once again began to giggle as the blonde ninja began to mimic several of his apparent favorite moves from her fight.

"And you really showed that jerk Neji!" Naruto grinned.

"W-what?" Hinata blinked. "S-show him? But… I lost."

"Yeah." Naruto said, looking Hinata square in the eye, pale violet, meeting shocking blue. " But every time he beat you down. You kept getting right back up. No matter what, you didn't let him get away with giving you that crap!"

Hinata's face was a bright shade of red as the blonde went on with much energy. Every time he commented on her fighting or how she had stood up to her cousin, made her turn a shade redder.

"And don't worry." He went on. "I'll be giving that jerk Neji a peace of my mind when the tournament starts up."

"You will?" Hinata looked at the blonde worriedly.

"Yep. We're the first match in the tournament." Naruto explained, a feral grin spreading across his face. "I'll shove all that crap about destiny and fate right up his ass!"

Despite his confident words, the dark haired girl looked worried as she thought about her cousin. Neji was on an entirely different level… Did the blonde really stand a chance? She didn't want to see him get hurt, her older cousin could be quite brutal when he wanted to be and the Hyuuga style, despite its 'gentle' name could be very effective in dishing out said brutality.

"Just… Please be careful Naruto." Hinata whispered, her hands clenching together tightly in her lap.

"Heh, don't worry Hinata. Kakashi sensei told me yesterday that he had a special teacher in mind for me to help train me for the fight."

"O-okay…" Hinata nodded, suddenly becoming aware that she felt very tired all of a sudden.

"Ah, you should let her rest now. She's going to need quite some time to recover." A soft voice whispered from the door.

Turning around in his chair, Naruto saw one of the nurses leaning her head into the room.

"Oh. Okay." Subduing himself, now that Hinata appeared to be asleep, Naruto pushed his chair back into place and left the young girl to rest as the nurse closed the door behind him.

* * *

Only a short distance from the young Hyuuga girl's room, a much more sinister scene was taking place. Several rooms down, the young green beast of Konoha, also known to many as Rock Lee was laying in his bed fast asleep. The round eyed and bowl haired cut boy was currently in the worst predicament of any ninja's life.

He was utterly helpless.

Due to the severity of his injuries during his fight with the sand genin Gaara of the sand, the doctors felt that it would be best to keep the ninja sedated for the first several days of his recovery, one reason being for the pain, the second being that if the boy were currently awake, he'd be trying to do one arm push ups and one legged jumping jacks all day long. So while his work ethic was admirable, the medical staff of the hospital felt his common sense was lacking.

And for that reason, Konoha's number one Genin taijustu expert was currently rendered helpless, just a dangerous and totally blood thirsty figure came into his room.

* * *

Hatake Kakashi was not known by many to be an overly sentimental person. A certain level of detachment and desensitization is necessary of a Jounin of his caliber and ex-ANBU captain.

But then again, not many people knew that Kakashi, the copy-cat ninja spent a great deal of his spare time, simply staring at memorial stone of all the ninja's whom had lost their lives in the service of their village.

"You know Obito… I know I've said this before but… god… I wish you were here. I wish… I could have known what you would've done." Kakashi sighed as he ran his ungloved hand over the smooth surface of the stone. His index finger lightly tracing several of the names etched into it.

"You know, Arashi never did tell me very much about Obito." A feminine voice, soft as silk yet as a strong as steel passed by Kakashi's ear.

"You must be regaining more of your strength." The gray haired man said as he turned away from the stone to face the red headed woman. "I almost didn't sense you."

"I'm getting a little stronger day by day." The young woman commented off handedly, as if they were talking about something as simple as the weather. "It will be a long, long time before I am anywhere near as strong as I once was."

"Leaving you weak and vulnerable in the mean time." Kakashi stated, his one normal eye trained squarely on the Fox demon. "Tell me, what does it feel like, for the first time ever, to have to fear for your life like the rest of us mortals?"

The bitterness was evident, much to Kakashi's dismay. He had intended for it to come off more casual and off handed.

"It's terrifying." Kyuubi answered truthfully, looking towards the memorial stone as she spoke. Kakashi was caught a bit off guard by this, but didn't let it show.

"So what brings you here?" He already knew the answer, but he felt he just had to say it a loud anyways. "I would think that Naruto would be pesting you to teach him some 'amazing' demon justu or something around that line."

Kyu gave a short laugh.

"There's nothing more that I can teach him." She sighed. "He understands the basics of how to control his powers, aside from a move here or there… There is little I know that could help him… Most thousand year old fox demons with infinite power don't waste there time learning human 'justus'."

"As to why I'm here? Simply to talk to you. I just spoke with my son a little while ago… I felt that it was time you and I spoke."

"And what do we have to speak of?" Kakashi asked, leaning casually on his right leg, in his normal carefree manner, hands buried into his pockets.

"You hate me." Kyuubi stated simply, surprising the copy-nin with her bluntness.

"… I don't… Hate you." Kakashi said uneasily as the conversation quickly took on a much more personal nature.

"Really? You don't hate me? Not after what I brought upon this village?" Kyuubi cocked her head to the side as she looked at Kakashi. "Because I sure do."

"What?" His eyes narrowing in a mixture of suspicion and confusion, Kakashi looked carefully into the ruby red eyes of woman standing before him.

And found a nothing but red pools of grief and sadness.

"I hate myself for what I have done to the man I loved." The fox woman stated. "He loved this village, and everyone who resided in it. My carelessness not only killed him, but took away the lives of those he cherished…. I…"

Kyuubi paused for a moment as she looked more closely at the stone memorial, something on it, catching her sharp eyes.

"Oh Rin…" A tear fell down her pale cheek and past the red whisker marks as she read the name.

"It was during the attack." He didn't know why, but he suddenly told her how the young girl had died. Maybe as extra barb in the fox woman sides perhaps?

"I have caused so much pain here." The woman sighed, falling to her knees in front of the memorial. "My husband… My friends… The villagers…. My own son… My very first child..."

Looking at this woman now, Kakashi suddenly felt as though he had done something wrong. The guilt, the pain… A powerful fox demon she might have been… but she felt love, joy, anger, hate, sadness…. Grief… Just like any other human.

"You said… I hated you." Kakashi said, getting the redhead's attention. "That's… not true."

Kyuubi looked up at Kakashi in confusion.

"I did." Kakashi explained. "For a long time… But now, I'm just angry and frustrated.

"I thought everything that had happened was your fault. You were a powerful fox demon. What should you care about what happens to us mere mortals? But… I was wrong. Yes, a lot of good ninjas died in that attack. But so have many ninja's died in the war with the stone, or the war with the sand. Whether it's a rival nation or a terrorizing demon. We ninjas were raised to fight and ultimately die for our village, for those that we love and cherish who live here. Even you did.

The Redhead looked up at Kakashi in surprise. Kakashi went on. "You really didn't expect to survive that Justu 12 years ago, did you?"

"…No." Kyuubi admitted guiltily. "And I would have left Naruto with nothing…"

"Well, you haven't. He has you… and slowly but surely, he's getting the rest of the village on his side too."

"You're right." Kyuubi nodded, standing back up and brushing herself off. "You know… for thousands of years, it's always amazed me, how humans can become so wise is such a short speck of life."

"It's because we know we only have that short speck of time that we have to cram as much wisdom into us as we can." Kakashi shrugged, a grin involuntarily forming under his mask. "We can't take our time about it like you demons do."

At that, the redheaded woman laughed both bitter and mirthful.

"You really… don't hate me?" Kyuubi asked, looking at the gray haired man in amazement.

Looking briefly at the memorial once more before turning back to Kyuubi, Kakashi looked at the demon with an entirely new feeling. There was no more anger or frustration. No hate, no malice, or even the slightest bitterness.

"My sensei loved you. He could see into your heart and tell what kind of person you were, be it demon, animal, or human. He trusted you, cared for you, and would have died for you. You are the mother of one of my students who I consider to be my friend and one of the few precious people I have left… No. I don't hate you. I can't hate you, and I don't think I ever will."

Smiling serenely, Kyuubi walked over to the copy-nin, staring into his one normal eye, as if she was searching for something.

Whatever it was, she must have found it, because with a simple nod of satisfaction she placed a quick peck on his mask covered cheek and ruffled his gray hair like he was child..

"You're definitely a lot more talkative now, than when you were a kid."

* * *

Shikato Nara was in a bit of a moral dilemma. Of course, such a dilemma is natural for a man in his line of work. Having to make decisions as a ninja that may challenge his own morals and ethics was common place for him.

Unfortunately, this was a moral dilemma of a much more dangerous nature.

A marriage dilemma.

He should have expected this sort of thing when he married a civilian… the only ones who knew about the Kyuubi attack where the adult ninja and older villagers. And while some of his fellow ninjas may have kept the secret with their loved ones, Shikato had followed the Third Hokage's word to the letter. The secret of the Kyuubi child was never to be mentioned.

Not even within the trust of the woman you were married to.

But now… Without knowing it, his wife had invited the demon container to their very home. And while from first looks, Shikato thought the boy to be fairly harmless…

But still, if his wife ever found out, she'd go ballistic.

The elder Nara sighed as he sat himself down at his small kitchen table to think, his wife busying herself with cooking at the moment.

If she ever found out that he'd intentionally never told her about this… Shikato shuddered at the thought.

Still, she seemed to like Naruto well enough. And Apparently even though Shikamaru thought he was loud and annoying, he was still considered an 'okay guy.'

"… So what do you think?" Shikato's wife asked, pulling the shadow using ninja out of his thoughts.

"Huh?" He looked blankly at her, as she frowned at his lack of attention.

"I said, do you think that Shikamaru will invite that nice Naruto boy over again?" Mrs. Nara said as she frowned at her husband. "It's nice to see him finally making friends outside of Chouji and Ino. Besides, Naruto is so energetic, he'd make for a good influence on our son."

'Would you say that if you knew what was inside that kid?' Shikato thought as he watched his wife return to her cooking.

Naruto… Wasn't a bad kid. Heck, as much as he wasn't sure he wanted to admit it, if he knew nothing about the demon fox Shikato probably would have thought the same thing as his wife.

'I guess… Ignorance is bliss.' Shikato sighed as he watched his son enter the kitchen, looking at bit perturbed.

"Hey son. So how's Chouji doing?" Shikato asked referring to his son's visit to the hospital to check on his team mate.

"Uh, he's fine." Shikamaru said offhandedly, more pressing things on his mind.

"You okay?" Shikato asked.

"Huh?... Yeah, I'm fine… I'm just…" Shikamaru paused to think for a moment. "Hey dad, what do you know about those sand ninjas?"

"The Sand ninjas?" Shikato asked, taking a moment to think about the question. "The ones who made it to the finals? Not much, aside from the fact that they come from the only major ninja village to have such a huge military cutbacks due to the recession in the wind country. Why do ask?"

"… Never mind." Shikamaru said, before heading out the back door to go to his favorite cloud watching spot.

"Huh… wonder what's bothering him?" Shikato murmured out loud.

* * *

The next morning, Naruto was waiting anxiously for his sensei to arrive with his new teacher.

As he paced back in forth on the small bridge at Team Seven's meeting spot. Thoughts from the day before began to resurface in his mind.

Recalling his meeting with Shikamaru after he had left Hinata's room, the two had been on their way to visit Chouji… that is, until they had noticed that creepy red haired sand nin going into Rock Lee's room.

It was a good thing that Shikamaru had been there to stop that freaky sand ninja from killing Lee.

'My soul reason for existing is to take the lives of others.' The San ninja, Gaara had said.

"What kind of existence is that?" Naruto mumbled to himself. In the end, Gaara had left… But in his wake, left a slew of unanswered questions, the biggest being just how much alike was he and the deranged redhead?

"Man that guy had scary eyes." Naruto said as he thought back to the blood lust in those hollow green orbs of Gaara's eyes.

"Hey Naruto! Been waiting long?" Kakashi greeted as he jumped out of a puff of smoke.

"Huh? Oh! Kakashi-sensei! So you've got my 'special teacher' huh?" Naruto asked excitedly as he looked around.

"Yep! Since I'll be off training Sasuke for a while I'll be leaving you in the capable hands of a special tutor, Ebisu."

Hearing his name, said tutor made his presence known. "Greetings Naruto. After speaking with Kakashi here, I understand you and I will have to spend the majority of our time working on re-learning the basics."

Naruto's only response was to stand there in horror.

"Naruto?" Kakashi asked, waving his hand in front of his pupil's face.

"CLOSET PERVERT!" Naruto exclaimed, jabbing an accusing finger towards Ebisu.

Kakashi sweat-dropped.

* * *

IRUKA THE AMAZING CHUUNIN SIDE STORY!

It was nearing night fall as Anko sat at one of the many park benches littered around Konoha. A small bag of treats resting in her lap as she surveyed her surrounds vacantly.

'I really need to tell Iruka…' Anko thought. 'I just know he's not going to take it well. He'll probably pass out from shock.'

An image of Iruka fainting like a damsel from those old classic films that Anko saw when she was a kid came to mind and she couldn't help but snicker at the thought.

Popping another piece of candy into her mouth, the young Mitarashi woman noticed a familiar mop of blonde hair trudge past her.

"Hey kid, what's wrong with you?" Anko couldn't help herself as she got the kid's attention.

"Huh?" Turning to look at the snake ninja, the boys eyes widen in surprise. "Ack! It's you!"

"Heh, you remember me huh?" Anko grinned mischievously, noting the small cut she had made on his cheek several days before was gone now.

"Yeah! You're that crazy lady who's been taking up all of Iruka-sensei's time!" Naruto pointed at her accusingly.

Blinking in surprise, Anko stared at the little blonde kid.

"Oh…So you know about that huh?" Anko shrugged popping another piece of candy into her mouth.

"Yeah! I found out yesterday! So you're the reason he's always busy when I go looking for him." Naruto huffed.

"So? Gonna cry about it?" Anko shot back.

"Hmph! No!" Naruto pouted, crossing his arms over his chest.

'Jeeze, I'm arguing with a twelve year old…' Anko thought. "Here, kid have a seat."

Scooting over, Anko made room for the blonde boy to sit down next to her. Hesitantly, the body took the spot with much suspicion.

"So what's bugging you?" Anko asked, recalling the boy's earlier disposition.

"Nothing… Well… I got stuck with this lame teacher." Naruto sighed.

"Lame? I didn't realize Kakashi was so boring." Anko laughed.

"Not Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed. "That close pervert Ebisu."

"Closet pervert! Heh, heh!" Anko laughed. "I had a feeling he was a bit of a pervert. He tries to hide it by acting all high and mighty."

"Yeah! He's so lame! All I needed was to use my Harem Jutsu and he was out cold!"

"Harem… Justu?" Anko raised an eyebrow.

"Well you see…" Naruto began.

"No!... I'm pretty sure I don't want to know." Anko raised her hand to silence him.

"Fine." Naruto huffed.

"So you got stuck with a lame teacher? Why isn't Kakashi teaching you?" Anko asked curiously.

"Said he had to focus on training Sasuke…" Naruto grumbled, and then under his breath. "Like I'm not good enough to train…"

"Makes sense." Anko shrugged.

"Eh!" Naruto turned to the snake woman indignantly. "What makes you think that!"

"Because Hatake Kakashi is the only shinobi that can teach the Uchiha kid how to use his sharingan eyes." Anko explained simply. 'At least the only shinobi still apart of the leaf that can train that kid…'

"Oh…" Naruto deflated. "I guess… that makes sense."

"You still think you got jipped though don't cha?" Anko asked seeing the boy's crestfallen look.

"How I am supposed to compete with Sasuke when I'm training under a loser like the closet pervert?" Naruto sighed.

Anko stared at the orange clad boy for a few minutes as he sat there pouting. She wouldn't admit it then and there, but she was starting to like the kid. Sure he was loud, obnoxious, and had horrible taste in clothing, but… Maybe she was starting to see something in him that Iruka did too…

Iruka... Anko smiled softly, her hand unconsciously coming to rest on her stomach. Iruka was a good person, and could see the good in others as well… Did he see something good in her as well?

"You know Iruka talks about you a lot." Anko smirked, as she suddenly caught the blonde's attention.

"He does?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Yeah. All the time, heck almost can't get the guy to shut up about you." Anko grinned as Naruto's face lit up. "Wanna know what I've gathered from all the things he's told me about you?"

"What!" Naruto asked excitedly.

"You're loud, you don't pay attention, and you pull too many pranks." Anko almost laughed as the boy nearly fell over from shock. But she popped another candy in her mouth and went on. "He also says you're strong, determined and he believes that if you try hard enough, you can do anything you set your mind to."

The boy's face lit up once more, a grin of sheer joy spreading across his face.

"Sure that Ebisu might be a bit lame…" Anko cringed. "But if you try hard enough, you'll learn everything you need to. I've learned that you're full of surprises and that you tend to pull rabbits out of your head protector when you need to." She said with a wink.

"Yeah!" Naruto shouted as he pumped his fist into the air. "I'll show Iruka-sensei! Come the final exam he'll be so proud of me he'll be saying 'there's the next Hokage! And buying extra ramen!'"

"Go get 'em kiddo." Anko grinned as the boy jumped off the bench and began to head off. But before he got even a couple steps away he stopped and turned back to face the snake woman.

"You know… I really used to hate you since you cut my face, scared the heck out of me and ate up all of Iruika-sensei's free time." Naruto said, as he looked back at the dark haired woman.

"Yeah?" Anko raised an eyebrow, not sure what he was getting at. "That so huh?"

Naruto gave his trade mark fox grin.

"But now… You're pretty cool, you're still freaky, but cool. And besides…." Naruto said, as he looked at Anko more seriously. " You make Iruka-sensei happy… There's no way I could hate somebody who does that."

With those final words, the blonde shinobi finally ran off.

Anko just stared at the boys retreating back with a hint of surprise.

'You make Iruka-sensei happy…. There's no way I could hate somebody who does that.'

Anko smiled softly, her hand once again resting on her stomach.

She made Iruka happy huh? The smile turned into a full grin. Iruka was a wonderful person… He'd be there to help her no matter what. Even help her be…

Yes. Maybe… Just maybe she could be a mother… Yeah. If Iruka believed she could do it then… Yeah...

'Now all I have to do is tell Iruka.' Anko thought. '… But man, he's totally going to pass out.'

* * *

I hope this is alright with you guys. It was actually a major pain to finally get this chapter written out.

Also, I hope some of you might take the time to go to my profile and check out my **WEB COMIC**.

Thanks.


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